Chapter 2146, Strange Breakthrough
When Yang Kai rushed back, the battle between Liu Yan and Xiong Ning had also concluded with Liu Yan winning as expected.
However, she had not killed Xiong Ning and instead just maimed him and thrown him to the ground. Xiong Ning’s aura was very feeble and he was groaning continuously, looking very miserable.
On the other side, Hua Gu was still imprisoned by the Earth Prison, his head still exposed, with the Embodiment sitting cross-legged in front of him with its huge hands spread out like two giant claws and grabbing the void at the place where Hua Gu was.
A type of mysterious energy was flowing from those two giant hands.
Under this power, the Source Qi and even Hua Gu’s physique were quickly transforming into a stream of pure energy that was pouring into the Embodiment’s body and being completely absorbed.
Seeing this scene, Yang Kai’s eyes shrank slightly.
“Master…” Liu Yan walked over, her beautiful eyes filled with shock as she asked in a low voice, “What is this Secret Art?”
She was also stunned by the actions of the Embodiment. Although Hua Gu and his companions’ methods were despicable, and their deaths weren’t worth pitying, what the Embodiment was doing at this moment seemed to be extracting Hua Gu’s vitality and essence. It was literally refining him into its own strength.
Hua Gu’s body rapidly shrivelled up under the Embodiment’s actions, his skin cracking and his complexion turning sallow, like all the water was being drained from his body. His Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivation was also rapidly regressing.
This kind of death, where one experienced the despair and torture of losing everything they had ever cultivated to achieve, was far more frightening than simply having one’s corpse shredded into ten thousand pieces.
“The Heaven Devouring Battle Law!” Yang Kai replied in a low voice.
He was also surprised because he hadn’t expected his Embodiment to have cultivated the Heaven Devouring Battle Law to such an extent already.
As for the scene before him, it was actually quite familiar.
When Yang Kai released Wu Meng Chuan from Blue Feather Sect’s Bone Prison, the latter had used the Heaven Devouring Battle Law to kill and devour all the other cultivators in the prison, restoring himself to his peak state in a very short period of time.
The Embodiment obviously hadn’t reached the same level as Wu Meng Chuan, but the essence of the technique it was using was the same, drawing out the energy of others to strengthen oneself!
The Heaven Devouring Battle Law could swallow everything which contained any form of energy in this world, allowing one to cultivate at an extraordinary pace. This Secret Art was extremely overbearing and evil, which was precisely why the creator of this Heaven defying Secret Arts, Heaven Devouring Great Emperor, had provoked public anger and ultimately doomed himself.
“This Secret Art is too wicked and domineering!” Liu Yan frowned, seemingly unhappy.
Yang Kai nodded lightly, agreeing with her sentiment, especially after seeing the scene in front of him. He had to admit that this was an extremely evil Secret Art.
As the two conversed, Hua Gu’s vitality finally dried up and he died, his whole body now nothing but skin and bones with most of his physique having been sucked away. As for the Embodiment, it showed an unsatisfied appearance as it stretched out its hand to draw over the half-dead Xiong Ning, intending for him to suffer the same fate as Hua Gu.
A tragic cry reverberated in the canyon for some time.
A while later, Xiong Ning also became a mummified corpse.
The Embodiment finally exhaled contentedly.
Yang Kai also clearly felt that after using the Heaven Devouring Battle Law and swallowing the essences of these two Dao Source cultivators, the Embodiment had grown noticeably stronger. What’s more, there was a kind of strange glow apparent in its eyes now.
Through their Soul connection, Yang Kai faintly felt that his Soul Clone, which inhabited his Embodiment, was a bit different now and had a strange aura about it.
“This Secret Art… it’s a good thing you didn’t cultivate it. It was really a wise decision!” The Embodiment spoke in his rough voice.
“Why do you say that?” Yang Kai raised his brows.
The Embodiment answered, “Before now, I had only absorbed energy from ores and inanimate objects, so I didn’t notice anything in particular, only that this Secret Art was extremely powerful and allowed me to improve my strength at an astonishing rate, but now… there is something which is affecting my Soul, like a lingering bloodthirst, making me want to slaughter and devour more!”
As he spoke, his eyes flashed with a faint red light.
“Could it be some kind of addiction…” Yang Kai touched his chin and muttered to himself.
The Embodiment shook his head and said, “Perhaps, but that’s not the point, the point is that while using this Secret Art to devour other living creatures, it also absorbs some of their intentions, affecting my Soul!”
“I understand,” Yang Kai nodded and asked, “Then you are now…”
“I’m fine!” The Embodiment waved his giant hand, “I speculate that the other things that were absorbed were the remnant thoughts and resentments of these cultivators. If those kinds of things were absorbed by you, they would be extremely difficult to purge, but I’m different…” At this point, the Embodiment grinned and patted his body, proudly saying, “This Stone Puppet body is innately able to purge impurities, so I think… as long as I spend some time resting, the situation will resolve itself.”
“Then we shouldn’t delay, go back and rest first!” Yang Kai said, taking the Sealed World Bead from Liu Yan and using his Divine Sense to move his Embodiment back inside.
“Will that big guy… be alright?” Liu Yan asked worriedly.
“Of course, the physique of the Stone Puppet Clan is specialized in this kind of thing, but he probably won’t be able to use the Heaven Devouring Battle Law to devour anything until he has completely purified those remnants,” Yang Kai replied.
After this incident, Yang Kai gained a faint understanding of why Heaven Devouring Great Emperor was killed in the past. It seemed that it was not just his act of wantonly devouring everything that caused others to resent him, but also due to changes in his mental state.
For instance, if such a powerful cultivator only thought about devouring this and devouring that all day, no one would have a sense of security. Furthermore, at Heaven Devouring Great Emperor’s cultivation, he wouldn’t be interested in devouring ordinary treasures or cultivators, only other Great Emperors would be able to satisfy him…
Even if just to protect themselves, the other Great Emperors would have to join forces to get rid of him!
“Hm?” As Yang Kai was lost in thought, he suddenly turned his head to the side and muttered in surprise, “Is she going to break through?”
He suddenly discovered that there was an unusual energy fluctuation coming from Zhang Ruo Xi, one that was consistent with signs of a breakthrough!
Without waiting for his command, Liu Yan took the Luan Feng feather back.
“This little girl’s physique is a bit strange!” Liu Yan looked at her and whispered, “She seems to be able to swallow World Energy directly, not even needing to refine it before she can add it to her own strength!”
“A Special Constitution?” Yang Kai frowned and shook his head, “There shouldn’t be anything special about her physique, I checked that very carefully long ago, but… her Bloodline Power is somewhat unusual.”
The Space Spirit Jade only reacted to Zhang Ruo Xi because of some kind of inherited Bloodline Power; however, Yang Kai didn’t know what kind of Bloodline this was, let alone what kind of connection there was between the Space Spirit Jade and her.
Regardless of the reason, Zhang Ruo Xi’s cultivation speed was simply astonishing.
She didn’t have a good cultivation environment before, but she had still managed to perform fairly well. Although her cultivation pace wasn’t slow before, it had improved after Yang Kai gifted her the Marrow Washing Pill. With this pill, any cultivator below the Origin King Realm would be able to cultivate significantly faster than their original aptitude would allow.
However, once said cultivator reached the Origin King Realm, the effects of the pill would disappear.
But just looking at this Spirit Qi Sea, it was as if some kind of certain restriction inside her body was released, allowing her to madly swallow the surrounding World Energy, leading to a breakthrough to the level of the Third-Order Saint King Realm in a very short period of time. Things didn’t end there, and after just a short time she was on the verge of another breakthrough to the Origin Returning Realm!
After one broke through from the Saint King Realm to the Origin Returning Realm, one needed to condense their Shi!
Yang Kai had also experienced this process, so he naturally knew about its difficulty.
As such, he quickly prepared to send a message to Zhang Ruo Xi to give her some advice.
With his current cultivation, he was qualified to give pointers.
But before he could even speak, a shocking scene appeared before him.
An invisible aura suddenly burst from Zhang Ruo Xi’s body, one that was condensed of her Saint Qi and Spiritual Energy and extended about ten meters from her figure. Inside of this ten-metre radius, she could clearly see and feel every pebble and blade of grass.
[Shi!]
Yang Kai’s expression turned extremely weird.
Zhang Ruo Xi had unexpectedly condensed her Shi instantly, without the slightest difficulty or need for advice. Furthermore, she had not even broken through to the Origin Returning Realm yet…
Yang Kai had never heard of such an astonishing feat.
Liu Yan’s beautiful eyes also flickered with surprise.
Up in the sky, dark clouds began to gather and winds began to swirl inside the depths of the canyon.
After Zhang Ruo Xi had condensed her own Shi, her World Energy Baptism soon followed!
World Energy gathered before forming a column that descended towards Zhang Ruo Xi’s delicate body like a bolt of lightning.
With a muffled snort, Zhang Ruo Xi’s face showed a faint pained expression.
Yang Kai and Liu Yan retreated immediately to observe from afar!
Their current cultivations were too high; if they rushed to assist Zhang Ruo Xi’s, they would only stimulate the World Energy Baptism, leading to unpredictable consequences.
Zhang Ruo Xi’s breakthrough could only be passed by her.
This little girl always looked so weak and delicate that Yang Kai couldn’t help secretly worrying about whether she would succeed.
Before he could worry for long though, his eyes suddenly bulged as he stared behind Zhang Ruo Xi.
Behind this little girl, a blurry phantom suddenly appeared. This phantom was ethereal and looked almost illusionary, but it soon condensed into a giant that was several dozen meters tall.
“That’s…” Yang Kai couldn’t help but whisper in shock.
Liu Yan’s face also paled. She didn’t know why, but she felt a fatal threat from this phantom and panic from the bottom of her heart, making her want to flee.
At this moment, the true appearance of the phantom was revealed. It looked like a giant woman wearing armour with a long cloak and holding a giant sword, her hair flying wildly in the air.
The woman’s figure was rough and heroic.
This figure was still somewhat blurry, and even its outline was a bit unstable; however, it did bear a certain resemblance to Zhang Ruo Xi. It was like looking at an older version of this little girl in shining white armour.