novelraw Chapter 138: Advancement [1]
Chapter 138: Advancement [1]
The sensation was peculiar.
Evidently, this was a benefit gained after his Soul Power was strengthened past a certain threshold.
An idea seemed to strike Hu Qi, and he summoned his status panel.
————
[Status: Normal]
...
[Modification Points: 87 (29%)]
Seeing that his status was normal, Hu Qi finally relaxed.
He was on edge simply because that thing had been far too strange, capable of directly invading his consciousness.
His gaze shifted downward.
When he saw the value in the Modification Point column,
Hu Qi’s brow twitched.
After purifying that black-robed figure, he had only 21 Modification Points left, but now he had 87.
The extra 66 Modification Points must have come from that figure.
’Logically, that shouldn’t be possible.’
’After all, the Light of the Soul from an ordinary Blood Slave only provides 10%, or 0.1 Modification Points.’
’But for a mere wisp of Soul Power to provide so many points was simply unbelievable.’
However, Hu Qi wasn’t too stunned.
This was because the black-robed figure had been a Divine Fragment from a so-called Food Master, a being who stood above even Middle Black Blood Species.
It was also the true culprit behind what had become of Helinta.
After obtaining the memories of both Helinta and this Divine Fragment,
it wasn’t hard to understand the situation.
He saw it all: Helinta cooperating with the Black Blood Species, eating the Blood-Gold Vermilion Fruit, and finally being betrayed and enslaved.
’I just didn’t expect Master to have been killed!’
A strange glint flashed in Hu Qi’s eyes.
As for this so-called master of his,
it was impossible to say he had any deep affection for him. After all, they had only met two or three times. Their relationship was one of name only; he had interacted more with Helinta.
So, if he was dead, he was dead.
Hu Qi didn’t feel much sadness over it.
And now, by a stroke of luck, he had avenged him.
’I suppose that master of mine can rest in peace now.’
’I didn’t think much of it before, but now it seems Jiang Zuo’s injuries were likely part of the Food Master’s design from the Inner Earth World. How else could it be such a coincidence? Jiang Zuo is severely injured and in seclusion, and an Earth Core Passage appears right here in Anshan City.’
’Then, it used a Blood-Gold Vermilion Fruit to cause Erosion in Helinta’s soul and twist her perception.’
’It also granted Helinta a portion of the Black Blood Species’ power.’
’Otherwise, even if Jiang Zuo was severely injured, he couldn’t have been killed by a mere Martial Arts Family member like Helinta...’
In that instant, he connected many dots.
The plan was actually perfect, but as the saying goes, no plan survives contact with reality.
A few things went wrong.
For instance, Du Wang, his senior brother who had been in seclusion for years, managed to break through at this exact time and become a Qi Dao Grandmaster. He temporarily filled the void left by Jiang Zuo, blocking the Earth Core Passage.
This hindered the Black Blood Species’ plan to enter the surface world.
But this setback wasn’t insurmountable.
It just required the help of a pawn like Helinta.
Thanks to the power bestowed upon her by the Food Master,
she could, like a Black Blood Species, rapidly accumulate Qi Blood True Strength through consumption.
If things had continued like that,
once she successfully broke through to the Qi Sect realm,
the creature could have used the methods it left in her body to temporarily control her, turning her into a Puppet to walk the surface.
At that point, a body possessed by a Food Master’s soul, even if Helinta’s strength was only at the Qi Dao Grandmaster level, would not be something ordinary people could fight.
Even if Du Wang, Chu Feng, and Li Xia teamed up against her, they would have been walking into a dead end.
Unfortunately for them, before Helinta could break through to become a Qi Dao Grandmaster, she was drawn over by the Qi Blood Smoke that Hu Qi had released.
Helinta was already at the Peak of the Martial Arts Family realm.
With the boost from the Food Master’s Black Blood,
her combat power was raised to a terrifying level.
The fact that she could kill a severely injured Jiang Zuo, who was a realm above her, spoke volumes.
However, Helinta ran into a monster like Hu Qi.
When Hu Qi attacked with his full strength,
he destroyed everything she had with the force of a landslide.
She was completely crushed and killed without any ability to resist.
Of course, if Helinta had chosen not to attack Hu Qi,
he probably wouldn’t have gone out of his way to cause her trouble.
But there are no "what-ifs" in life.
As for why the Food Master didn’t descend in person...
According to the memories obtained from that wisp of a Divine Fragment,
it seemed to be wary of a certain individual within the Xia Federation.
However, that person was in seclusion because their Lifespan was nearing its end.
The Earth Core Passage had opened many times, but Upper-Rank Black Blood Species—that is, Food Masters—never came through. At most, they only dispatched Middle Black Blood Species. This was to probe the status of that individual,
to see if they had already died.
As for who this person was and why they could make a powerful being like a Food Master—who could cross the Earth Core Passage and seal off all of Anshan City with a single thought—so wary,
Hu Qi had no way of knowing.
After all, it was just a Divine Fragment with limited and incomplete memories.
After sorting out the origins of all these events,
Hu Qi also understood where the sense of danger he’d felt had come from.
It was from the Food Master deep within the Earth Core.
If that creature’s plan had succeeded,
it would very likely have sent down even more power to force the passage open.
At that point, a terrifying existence surpassing the Qi Sect realm would have descended.
Regardless of the final outcome,
he, and everyone else in Anshan City, would have faced certain death.
At this thought,
the relaxed mood Hu Qi felt from his power increase tensed up again.
’Power... my power is still too weak.’
’I need more strength.’
To rapidly increase one’s strength in a short time
is impossible even for the most monstrous of geniuses.
But that didn’t include Hu Qi.
With his unparalleled monstrous Talent and a little help from the Crimson Modifier,
it wouldn’t be difficult to achieve.
Thinking of this,
he glanced down at Helinta’s skeletal remains.
Perhaps because she hadn’t been fully transformed into a Black Blood Species,
a dried skeleton was left behind.
Hu Qi grabbed the remains.
Then, with a few flickers, his figure
arrived at a clearing.
With a slash of his saber,
a rectangular pit blasted open in the ground.
Hu Qi tossed the corpse that was once Helinta into the pit and gave it a simple burial.
’No matter what,’
’she did teach me a few things.’
’And we were fellow disciples, in a way.’
’Burying her bones is a small effort. I don’t mind doing it.’
After finishing,
Hu Qi didn’t linger and quickly left.
...
A few minutes later.
On a deserted and remote rooftop.
Hu Qi called up his attribute panel.
He looked directly at the Three-Eyed Primordial Snake Bloodline entry.
As he focused his will,
his Modification Points began to decrease.
The Three-Eyed Primordial Snake Bloodline visibly began to grow.
13%... 14%... 15%... 17%
In just a few seconds,
the Three-Eyed Primordial Snake Bloodline increased from the original twelve percent to seventeen percent.
At the same time, Hu Qi stopped adding points.
A seventeen percent concentration for the Three-Eyed Primordial Snake Bloodline already met the prerequisite for modifying and upgrading the Three-Eyed Primordial Snake Spirit Devouring Map again.
With this in mind,
he looked directly at the Skill column.
[Three-Eyed Primordial Snake Spirit Devouring Map (Essence Element Chapter Ninth Layer)]
Seeing this, he frowned slightly.
The Three-Eyed Primordial Snake Spirit Devouring Map still didn’t show the Rune that would allow him to modify and upgrade it.
Raising the Three-Eyed Primordial Snake Bloodline from 12% to 17% had only consumed 50 Modification Points.
By that calculation,
he still had 37 Modification Points left on his panel.
For that many points to still be insufficient to upgrade the Three-Eyed Primordial Snake Spirit Devouring Map...
Hu Qi’s expression turned ugly.
"If it’s still not enough, then I’ll just keep killing until it is!"
Hu Qi’s head snapped up, and he looked into the distance.
The next moment,
his figure blurred and vanished.
A few seconds later,
piercing screams echoed from a distant street.
One after another, Black Blood Species were killed and reaped.
Although the Three-Eyed Primordial Snake Spirit Devouring Map he cultivated hadn’t been upgraded,
the perfection of his Bloodline still drove the continuous growth of his power.
Moreover, after obtaining Helinta’s Blood Refining Spiritual Soldiers,
Hu Qi was like a fish in water when killing Black Blood Species. A single slash could kill and injure a large number.
Even Lower-Rank Black Blood Species couldn’t withstand a single blow from him.
Slowly, time passed.
The gray fog seemed to have been stained with a dark, bloody hue.
...
「The moment Helinta was killed. Inner Earth World, on a vast plain.」
As far as the eye could see, the flat plain was boundless, as if it had no end.
At this moment, leaden clouds hung low, and a drizzling rain fell from the sky.
Upon the dark green grasslands, within circular walls made of piled earth and stone,
stood crude houses of various sizes.
The houses leaked everywhere.
And the people living within them had numb, hollow eyes.
Circles like this, walled by earthen mounds, were not uncommon.
They could be seen almost everywhere on this vast plain.
They were less like walls
and more like fences for penning livestock and dividing territory.
In fact, that’s exactly what they were.
To the Black Blood Species, so-called humans were no different from livestock.
"Father, what’s that?"
Inside a low, earthen house,
a young voice rang out.
Three figures were huddled in a corner of the house, dressed in simple clothes sewn from animal hides.
A man and a woman were adults, while the third was a boy of about eleven or twelve.
The three of them were currently hiding in the only relatively dry spot in the corner.
The rest of the floor was a muddy mess from the leaking rain.
The house was mainly built from mud and grass stalks.
They would collect mud from the plains, add chopped grass stalks to increase its viscosity and Resilience, and finally form it into adobe bricks.
After being dried in the sun, the adobe bricks could be used to build walls.
These earthen walls provided some insulation, and the materials were easy to gather.
But their disadvantage was their relatively low strength.
Whenever it rained like this, they would leak everywhere and require frequent repairs.
The one who had just spoken was the little boy.
He tugged on the middle-aged man’s shoulder, pointing toward the distant sky.
There,
in the direction he was pointing,
stood a colossal, towering mountain peak.
The peak soared into the clouds, its massive form looking even more majestic in the rain.
Rainwater flowed down its steep cliffs, forming silvery waterfalls.
Gray clouds and mist swirled around the mountain.
The peak’s summit, sharp as a blade, was hidden in the rain and mist, appearing and disappearing, as if it were a sharp Long Saber that had stabbed a great hole in the sky.
Beside him,
the middle-aged man looked up.
When he saw what the boy was pointing at,
his numb expression flickered with a hint of emotion.
He glanced down at his son.
He began to explain.
"That should be related to the Lord Celestial Gods."
"Then, Father, can you tell me about the Lord Celestial Gods?"
The little boy’s face was full of hope.
Children at this age
are naturally curious about everything.
He had only ever heard of the Celestial Gods, but had never seen one.