Demon Bible

Chapter 229: For the Family

For the family.

This was not just a slogan; it was Dartmenerly's lifelong conviction.

From the moment he was born, he had bathed in the family's glory.

Everything he enjoyed was provided by the family, and his position above others was entirely due to the family.

Every single thing that comprised his life was inextricably linked to the family.

In every event and every memory, the family occupied a vital role.

It had been over two hundred years since he first shouldered the family's responsibilities.

Over these two centuries, the mark of the family was no longer merely a matter of bloodline; it had transformed into the very passage of time, blending into his life piece by piece.

"And so... for the family," Dartmenerly murmured softly, swinging the sword in his hand toward Cici Marie.

At that very moment, Cici Marie, who had been lying on the ground, suddenly stood up. She thrust out her arm, and a brilliant golden hue converged upon it, turning it dazzlingly bright.The instant her arm collided with the blade, a violent shockwave erupted from the point of impact, rippling outward in all directions.

In the next fraction of a second, the vanished Purr materialized right behind Dartmenerly, his massive hand already reaching out to grab the man's shoulder.

As long as Dartmenerly's offensive movements were restricted, his trait would be rendered useless.

Meanwhile, the body of Cici Marie, who was on the ground, underwent a sudden transformation, and her entire figure split right down the middle into two halves.

One half was entirely golden, with its eyes closed and an expression of deep slumber.

The other half appeared relatively normal, bearing only a few traces of gold.

The arm that had previously been tough enough to withstand Dartmenerly's sword strike now turned as supple as silk. It rapidly twisted, coiling tightly around Dartmenerly's sword and arm to restrict his movements.

Accompanying this was a wave of mental allure. Like a sudden burst of intoxicating fragrance rushing into his senses, it left Dartmenerly momentarily dizzy.

However, in the very next moment, the sword in Dartmenerly's hand erupted with intense holy power. It formed a concussive blast that repelled both the entangling Cici Marie and Purr, who was attacking from behind.

Only then did he have the breathing room to take a closer look.

He discovered that although the face still belonged to Cici Marie, it now carried an overwhelming sense of seductive charm.

"White Fox?!" Dartmenerly stared at the present Cici Marie. Although the facial features were different, that signature enchanting aura was exactly the same, only vastly more potent now.

"You have quite the eye, Patriarch," Cici Marie giggled after being pushed back.

From the very beginning, Nemus had never trusted Cici Marie as a Golden Elixir.

This type of Golden Elixir—created by amalgamating bloodlines, drugs, whale products, and other materials within a human body—did indeed possess a certain probability of pushing a person into the Golden Rank.

The Number inherent to any species naturally had a limit, a kind of innate restriction.

After all, all things contained "The Number."

The higher the energy of the entity, the greater its Number.

However, ordinary methods simply could not extract The Number from other entities.

Trying to increase it was unimaginably difficult.

This process was divided into two major hurdles: stimulation and absorption.

The primary function of the Golden Elixir was to stimulate The Number contained within its various resource components, forcing them to temporarily detach from their physical vessels and thus creating the possibility of absorption.

At the same time, it also provided some assistance to the human body in absorbing those Numbers.

If a person's Attribute Value was insufficient and they could not acutely perceive the fluctuations of The Number, their body would be completely incapable of absorbing it. Even if they consumed the Golden Elixir and flooded their entire being with those free-floating Numbers, it would be entirely useless.

It was like trying to pour more water into a bottle that was already full; it could not hold another drop, and the excess water would simply overflow and be lost. Only by transforming that water during the process—compressing it into something of higher quality that occupied less volume—could one inject more of it into the body.

And this required the flawless coordination of the external environment and internal transformation.

An inferior Golden Elixir would fail to stimulate enough free-floating Numbers during this process, making it impossible to form the necessary environment.

Furthermore, it could cause a certain degree of corruption, leading to a loss of physical and mental control, which would ultimately prevent the internal reaction from reaching its peak.

Therefore, after closely observing her, Nemus decisively abandoned the idea of using Cici Marie as the Golden Elixir for his own advancement.

Instead, he handed her over to White Fox.

From then on, the entire refinement process of the Golden Elixir was also entrusted to White Fox.

White Fox was absolutely a genius whose true potential had been hindered by dual-cultivation methods like the Body-Magic Art.

After pledging her loyalty to Nemus and acquiring a wealth of supernatural knowledge from him, she utilized her own Body-Magic Art to develop a secret technique to aid in her breakthrough to the Iron Rank.

This secret technique simultaneously manipulated the body from both spiritual and life-force aspects, forcing the physical form to regress into a highly specific state.

And this technique was named the "Hearth Return Technique."

Upon closer inspection, one would notice that Cici Marie's abdomen was swollen, looking as though she were three or four months pregnant. Following a sudden squirming motion, her stomach seemed to shrink slightly.

This was White Fox's Hearth Return Technique in action.

She had shrunk her own body, regressing back to the "mother's womb."

By doing this, she created a stable "environment" and then used a pseudo mother-child connection to siphon nutrients from Cici Marie bit by bit.

This method avoided corruption to the greatest extent possible, allowing her to extract far more power from the Golden Elixir.

At this very moment, White Fox had already "unfurled" herself within Cici Marie's body, her consciousness spreading into the majority of Cici Marie's physical form.

It was as if she had worn Cici Marie like a thick, heavy leather coat over her own soul.

By the time the nutrient absorption was fully complete, Cici Marie would likely be reduced to nothing more than an empty husk of skin and a pile of useless dregs.

This dose of the Golden Elixir might not be enough to elevate someone to the Golden Rank, but pushing White Fox to the Iron Rank and allowing her to rapidly approach its peak limit would not be a problem at all.

For some inexplicable reason, Dartmenerly felt an overwhelming surge of fury at this moment.

Although he had treated Cici Marie purely as an experimental subject since she was a child, and he was the very one who had twisted her upbringing.

Furthermore, he was the one who had made the executive decision to send her away to be refined into the Golden Elixir.

From start to finish, he had been presented with countless opportunities to correct Cici Marie's flaws and save her.

Yet, Dartmenerly had never once taken action to do so.

He had watched her slowly morph into the tragic sight before his eyes piece by piece, but right now, his rage was entirely genuine.

Dartmenerly said nothing. Instead, he swung his sword once more.

His objective in coming here this time was twofold. First, he needed to stop Nemus from obtaining the Golden Elixir. Nemus possessed the bloodline of the Dartmenerly family, which theoretically meant that absorbing Cici Marie—the living Golden Elixir—would allow him to minimize corruption to the absolute fullest extent.

On the other hand, he wanted to systematically eradicate Nemus's subordinates.

They were all going to die anyway. Therefore, before they perished, he intended to wring out as much value as possible from them for the Saint Child, ensuring that when the Saint Child and Nemus clashed for the position of the protagonist, the former's odds of victory would be that much higher.

Whether it was pursuing Fae Power or stepping in now to snatch away the Golden Elixir, his fundamental objective remained exactly the same.