Book 16: Chapter 82: Ruined
Book 16: Chapter 82: Ruined
Mu Shanzi entered the hot spring only Purgatory Mountain’s elders had the privilege of entering.
Lin Xi and Qin Xiyue sat on the rocks by the edge of the hot spring, watching him soak in the yellow-green spring water.
“Sky Devil Prison Plains was in a state where anyone might die at any time, yet they were still frantically trying to fish things out. Just what kind of things do you think they were trying to bring out?” After speaking about his entire experience in Sky Devil Prison Plains, Mu Shanzi asked Lin Xi in a deadly earnest manner while washing the dirt from his body.
“The stuff fished out from the water should be the black bugs needed to continuously cultivate Devil Transformation,” Lin Xi said in a somewhat grave manner.
“Hah!” Mu Shanzi laughed loudly. “I knew that it was those black bugs too, but I just wanted you to say this yourself.”
Lin Xi was stunned. “Why?”
Even Mu Shanzi’s eyes were shut from laughing so hard. “Because I heard that you ate those black bugs before, and I know that those black bugs are extremely nasty. I also know that if you want to strengthen the body with Demonization, to continuously level up the state of Devil Transformation, then you have to keep eating those black bugs. There was a lot of information that came out of your battle with Zhang Ping in Central Continent City. The reason why Zhang Ping deliberately fed you those black bugs was firstly because since you could not obtain those black bugs in the future, you wouldn’t be able to continue cultivating Devil Transformation, thus making you the weakest devil. The other reason was that he wanted you to have a taste of those nasty black bugs too.”
Lin Xi chuckled. “That is why you felt extremely happy when you heard me personally mention this type of black bug.”
“Of course!” Mu Shanzi roared with laughter again. But when he looked at Lin Xi who was laughing as well, he felt a bit strange. He was a bit puzzled as he said, “What, you’re not mad?”
“Why would I get mad?” Lin Xi and Qin Xiyue both laughed. “Everyone knows that Sky Devil Prison Plains is a place where one can easily lose their life. You braved such great dangers and discovered the location of the black bugs Zhang Ping needs. This way, we can destroy that place just like how we burned down Thousand Devil Nest. This would be equivalent to cutting off Zhang Ping’s continued cultivation of Devil Transformation, the possibility of him strengthening his body further. You were willing to take such risks to do this type of thing, so what harm is there in letting you mock me a bit, letting you feel happy?”
Mu Shanzi stared blankly. However, he still felt a bit unresigned. “Lin Xi, how does that black bug taste? Is it the crunchy or the oily type?”
Lin Xi who understood Mu Shanzi’s intentions laughed gently again and said, “I don’t know. I just had Teacher An make them into pills for me.”
Mu Shanzi immediately became completely speechless.
Lin Xi smiled. He was about to say something, but his expression gradually became serious.
He got up and turned around. Mu Shanzi was stunned. He followed Lin Xi’s gaze, seeing a youngster whose body was covered in even greater filth than him, someone who was even more tired walking up the mountain path.
When he saw this youngster who got closer and closer, the gloomy expression on Mu Shanzi’s face also gradually disappeared, instead turning into shock. “Wen Xuanyu?” He cried out in alarm.
Wen Xuanyu was one of the academy’s heaven’s choice students, as well as one of the greatest ‘golden spoons’. But after that Autumn Sacrifice, he was forced to become a homeless wanderer, becoming an ordinary lotus picker. He witnessed the joys and sorrows of ordinary people, assimilating into the livelihoods of many ordinary people. This type of ordinary life changed him greatly, to the extent where it could be said that it completely changed the meaning of his life.
When he heard Mu Shanzi’s cry, he nodded his head in return. Then, he bowed slightly to Lin Xi in respect. “Thank you.”
This was definitely a fellow student they didn’t expect.
After the Autumn Sacrifice, Green Luan Academy already lost track of Wen Xuanyu’s whereabouts. No one expected Wen Xuanyu to appear at this type of time.
However, Lin Xi could understand why Wen Xuanyu showed him gratitude. Regardless of who was right between the past Changsun clan or Juliu Clan, regardless of who was right or wrong between Changsun Jinse or Wen Xuanshu, regardless of what type of person Wen Xuanshu was, he was Wen Xuanyu’s father. Changsun Jinse ultimately died in the battle against Lin Xi. For Wen Xuanyu, Lin Xi was precisely the one who got revenge for him.
Lin Xi didn’t say much else about this. He only bowed slightly in return and calmly asked, “Why are you also here?”
Now that all of them were no longer young and carefree, this simple ‘why are you also here’ instead filled the air with endless sentiments.
From that Autumn Sacrifice, from Central Continent City, and then to Great Mang, to Purgatory Mountain, this was an extremely long journey. Lin Xi and the others all understood clearly that there were definitely countless stories that belonged only to Wen Xuanyu. However, Wen Xuanyu didn’t speak about too much. Under the sentimental atmosphere, he only looked at Lin Xi and said, “I came back from Sky Devil Prison Plains.”
Mu Shanzi’s eyes immediately widened.
“The Flame Titans aren’t originally Flame Titans.” Wen Xuanyu looked at Lin Xi and continued to say this.
Mu Shanzi was stunned. “What do you mean?”
Lin Xi instead looked at Wen Xuanyu and asked, “You discovered the secret behind the Flame Titans in Sky Devil Prison Plains?”
“I discovered a past Sky Devil Prison Plains laboratory.”
Wen Xuanyu looked at him and said, “Even though they had medicine that allowed one to complete Devil Transformation, the past Sky Devil Prison Plains’ research on medicines that could alter the human body and even fiend beasts never stopped.”
“Sky Devil Palace’s powerful cultivation methods are all built on the foundation of Devil Transformation. From a certain perspective, these devil dao individuals were instead the earliest gene researchers of this world.” Lin Xi looked behind Wen Xuanyu, seeing that Nangong Weiyang was currently climbing up the mountain path behind Wen Xuanyu. He slowly continued, “Our academy’s Medicine and Internal Study Departments, to a certain degree, are also researching these things. It is just that we clearly couldn’t reach the level of these devil cultivators. Then when you said that the Flame Titans aren’t actually Flame Titans, this means that those Flame Titans weren’t originally that powerful, that they were only modified to become that powerful by Zhang Ping through certain methods?”
Wen Xuanyu had never heard the word ‘gene’ before, but he was able to understand most of what Lin Xi said.
“Not by Zhang Ping, but instead by those devil cultivators in the Immortal Devil Age.” He shook his head, and then looked at Lin Xi. “The devil cultivators of that era had a type of method that could make the bodies of fiend beasts undergo a strange transformation. Their blood will flow faster and their temperatures will rise. It will magnify the finest trace of life force within their bodies, making the rate of life and death become much faster.”
After a slight pause, Wen Xuanyu added, “In the eyes of the devil cultivators of that age, regardless of whether it was the human body or fiend beast body, there is constant death and growth. Countless finest bodies within our bodies will die, but there will be new ones to take their place. Their method is precisely to make the growth of some things in the fiend beast’s body far exceed ordinary levels, and then this type of fiend beast’s power would continuously grow as the years pass.”
Wen Xuanyu was the only son of Wen Family, so he had read all types of secret reports and secret information since birth. That was why his explanation was much simpler and more precise than An Keyi’s would be. Lin Xi already understood what was going on with just these words.
“The growth and death within the body is called metabolism,” he muttered to himself. “These past cultivators should be using a method that speeds up the metabolism, as well as some other methods to produce this change within the fiend beasts. But these Flame Titans have lived for so long… to create this type of mutation through an endless amount of time truly is a bit unimaginable.”
“This is not the key point.” Wen Xuanyu couldn’t completely understand what Lin Xi was saying, but he didn’t care about the reasoning Lin Xi spoke of either. He only said with a serious voice, “The reason why the Flame Titans could still exist now is only because it was the weakest specimen to begin with, something similar to a mountain ape. The larger the experimental subject, the more shocking these Sky Devil Palace methods will become, magnifying their power several times.”
“So the only reason these Flame Titans still exist might only be because these Flame Titans were just too weak back then, not even having the qualifications to participate on the battlefield?” Even Mu Shanzi understood. He immediately thought of something, his face becoming a bit pale. “The larger the body, the more shocking the transformation… you are saying… the Divine Elephant Army?”
Wen Xuanyu took a deep breath, nodding his head. “If Zhang Ping has also inherited those methods, then he should be able to make those White Divine Elephants even larger, moreover allowing them to possess several times their original strength and vitality.”
Mu Shanzi’s face turned deathly pale.
Everyone already became aware of the White Divine Elephants’ strength from the battle in Sanskrit Passage. It wasn’t something normal cultivators could contend against at all. Later on, the Divine Elephant Army was even more so the reason why Purgatory Mountain was successfully defended
If a White Divine Elephant’s strength was increased several times… just what kind of concept was this?
The most crucial part was that their vitality also grew. This meant that even if you applied many cuts to a White Divine Elephant’s body, it still might not be able to make it die.
Nangong Weiyang was listening to everything from the side not far from Wen Xuanyu.
When Mu Shanzi’s face quickly turned pale, her face instead didn’t show any changes. She only calmly asked, “Did you also learn the method to make these fiend beasts undergo these mutations? Do you know how Zhang Ping controls these Flame Titans?”
Wen Xuanyu knew who she was. He nodded and looked at Lin Xi. “Your and Zhang Ping’s bodies are precisely the vessels that make these fiend beasts change. The Devil Transformation medicine has modified your blood, flesh and inner organs, and it can also change the blood that enters your body. Through the modification of your blood, you can also make these fiend beasts undergo mutation.”
The others still couldn’t completely understand, but Lin Xi already understood. He looked at Wen Xuanyu and spoke in confirmation, “You are saying that as long as I take the blood of fiend beasts into my body, let my body modify the blood of this fiend beast, and then return the blood back into the fiend beast’s body, then I can make this fiend beast undergo mutation?”
“Taking in foreign blood will cause some damage, but with Zhang Ping and your own cultivation, it should be enough to endure it.” Wen Xuanyu looked at him and said, “Moreover, your blood carries powerful corroding properties. Only a small amount of blood exchange is needed.”
After a slight pause, he then replied to Nangong Weiyang’s question. “As for controlling the Flame Titans, it is through blood sense. Regardless of whether it is the Flame Titan or other fiend beasts that have undergone devil blood mutation, they are extremely sensitive to the blood energy of devil cultivators. It is to the extent where they instinctively desire greater power, so they will wish to directly tear apart the blood of devil cultivators and devour their flesh. However, the devil blood of devil cultivators is actually poisonous for them, so devil cultivators can easily engrave some runes with their blood. By letting these fiend beasts swallow the blood, it will activate in their brains, destroying a portion of the inside, thus making these fiend beasts completely obedient.”
“Then can I use the same method to seize Flame Titans that have already been controlled?” Lin Xi asked after thinking for a bit.
“This type of modification and destruction is permanent.” Wen Xuanyu shook his head. “The reason why Zhang Ping could control these Flame Titans should be because the Flame Titans were too weak during that age, just the earliest experimental subjects. There were almost no devil cultivators who were willing to go through the effort to control such weak things.”
Qin Xiyue also couldn’t help but ask, “If this type of method can make a fiend beast mutate, then can it be used in a similar method on cultivators?”
Wen Xuanyu shook his head. “The blood between humans will be too similar. Human bodies need Devil Transformation medicine to change. If only small amounts of Lin Xi’s devil blood enter our bodies, our bodies might just treat it as poison and slowly eliminate it. If large amounts enter our bodies, we might just die.”
Before he finished speaking, Qin Xiyue already understood. Ever since they left Frozen God Domain, what Lin Xi wanted the most was a way to get rid of the Devil Transformation blood in his body, but he just couldn’t. Lin Xi’s body had already been continuously modified by the devil blood in his internal organs, already completely transformed. Even if all of his blood was extracted, the newly produced blood would be similar devil blood. Meanwhile, this type of devil blood was already entirely different from the medicine used to enable Devil Transformation.
“The Divine Elephant Army vanished without a trace after the previous Purgatory Mountain Battle. That is why your suspicions should be correct. The mutation of the Divine Elephant Army should precisely be another one of Zhang Ping’s trump cards.” Right at this time, Lin Xi calmly said this, and then he smiled. “But if he has a mutated Divine Elephant Army, I can also have a mutated Giant Lizard Army… moreover, my mutated Giant Lizard Army will be much greater than his Divine Elephant Army.”
“He is indeed extremely powerful… he has actually concealed this type of power.”
Lin Xi slowly raised his head to gaze into the skies above Purgatory Mountain. He said with a quiet but resolute voice, “His Devil Eye Flowers have been ruined by Meng Bai, his Devil Transformation black bugs ruined by Mu Shanzi, Divine Elephant Army powerful trump card ruined by Wen Xuanyu… That is why anyone who tries to suppress an entire world alone will never succeed.”