Beast Queen
Xiang Hou clenched his fist. I place my hand on his shoulder. "We will get back at them in the Sect competition," I say.
"Yes..."
...
"Go back and practise Sword of Reign. I know you haven't mastered Dragon Breath but I want you to practise the Sword of Reign until the competition." I say.
?
"Trust me."
Xiang Hou throws a glare at the elderly flying away and nods in determination.
"Go."
Xiang Hou leaves with Yueling.
"I'm sorry." Says Xiang Hou.
"..."
"I couldn't get them to apologize."
Yueling throws a glance at Xiang Hou.
"Win the competition." She says.
!!
Xiang Hou smiles. "Definitely."
I look at Xiang Hou's back.
My journey to the Huoshan region and back will take more than four days. I can infect Xiang Hou but I am curious about how far Xiang Hou is willing to go.
...
Huoshan is a very hot place filled to the brim with beasts adapted to the heat at Wenhua. However, for mere humans, proceeding into the region without heat-resistance measures is simply seeking death.
There will be cracks of volcanic molten as well as penetrating fire Qi that burns the organs.
One wrong step and you will be leaving the world in an excruciating way.
Many cultivators visit Huoshan to kill beasts, collect herbs, or cultivate fire spiritual roots or physique.
Yet why am I visiting Huoshan?
The Qi density at Huoshan is immense, I should take that opportunity to evolve my virus.
------------------
"Zhu Li, You dare show your face when you failed an assassination?"
...
"I have no excuse." Says Zhu Li.
Zhu Li braced himself for whatever is to come.
"Tch. You are lucky we are low on manpower. Lock him up and revoke his disciple status." Says the patriarch.
There are many disciples of the Blood Sect in the room, witnessing Zhu Li's punishment.
Mu Kai stares at Zhu Li...
"Take him away!"
Several people pull Zhu Li away.
...
His cultivation was abolished and he was thrown into a jail cell wearing only ragged clothes.
"Heh...another one." Says a toothless man in the cell.
Zhu Li ignores him.
...
Although Zhu Li's life is turned upside down, all he is worried about is the fact that Zhu Li cannot be as useful to Wang Ji as before.
Weird. It feels out of place. Zhu Li has always been a devoted follower of the Blood Sect.
...
Zhu Li sighs. It doesn't matter anymore, Wang Ji is all that he cares about.
At another corner of Tiansu, a meeting between different sect leaders is being held.
Elders of every sect as well as the patriarch are present.
"He is a disrespectful brat with no manners whatsoever! I suggest we kill him off!" The elder of the Eight Trigrams sect says.
"Because of him, our influence among Tiansu is dropping tremendously. How did he convince everyone to become his backer? Even Yan Chang is siding with him!" Another elder exclaims from the Eight Shield sect.
They discuss and complain about every bit of agony they faced from Wang Ji's action. The commotion continued until a man clears his throat.
...
"We have tried many years to make the Heavenly Divine Dragon sect fall, we cannot lose everything we've built up just because of one person. Essentially, Wang Ji is the root of evil that contributes to the sect's growth. Once we kill him, everything will go back to normal." Says the man. He is wearing a white robe, an official from the Murim Alliance. "There are many ways we can kill him but we need to kill him off as fast as we can. His growth is too fast, I've never seen anything like that before in the history of Murim. Right now, he is only a mere peak Core Formation. Hire a Golden Soul assassin, we cannot take any risk!"
"Are you crazy? Where will the money come from?" Says a Patriarch.
"Equal contributions from each of us. This is an investment! Do you want to lose everything!?"
...
"It's decided. Our spy informed us about Wang Ji's activity, he is heading out of Nielong. This will be the best opportunity."
---------------------
1 day later...
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As I get closer to Huoshan, the density of fire Qi in the atmosphere thickens. Nature is noticeably turning "red" and cracks are formed in the ground.
One cultivator flies out of Huoshan sweating buckets while holding a bag, many fire-resistance talismans on his back split apart.
The fire spirit tree hasn't sprouted and nobody wants to endure the heat. There isn't anyone here in Huoshan.
Stepping into Huoshan, the searing heat penetrates my body but does not harm me. It must be the Vermilion Bird imprint.
A few wolves-like creatures with fiery tails and cracked molten skin growl at me.
...
Some lunge at me to be met with a void divider at their torso.
"Ugk...?!"
The rest deemed me as dangerous before escaping. I infect the escapees.
-----------------
Manual Evolution detected.
0.01% complete.
Reward:
??????
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While I'm here, I should infect everything I can and find the spot with the highest density.
Travelling deeper into Huoshan, ferocious spurting molten is a common sight. A few red bird beasts dive towards me from the sky, their beak gathering fire Qi.
*BOOM!*
However, their attack left me unscathed and one injured its beak. Afraid, they jolt off in fraught.
I infect them.
The Qi is getting denser, suffocating the lack of oxygen in the air.
I am approaching the core of Huoshan where the Beast Queen resides.
"Damn..." I mumble. The amount of Qi constantly exploding from that volcano is too strong. With every step, I feel part of my skin peeling off.
My instinct peaks unexpectedly.
?!
I can't sense anything near?
Yet why does it feel so unpleasant?
...
Suddenly, the ground trembles.
A volcano near erupts and shoots out pyroclastic bombs.
"GRRAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"
A giant orange-red serpent crash through the volcano and roars.
The powerful echo ejects my body away.
?!
"Huh? What?" I mumble.
That's...the Beast Queen of Huoshan???
She should be in deep slumber! Why is she-
A long noodle tail breaks out of the ground below and launches me into the air. Contrary to its size, it followed up with a swift manoeuvre whip at my tiny body in midair. The armour I wear instantly breaks and I was thrown through one entire elevated portion of Huoshan's crust.
I slam to the ground and was dragged two metres before the momentum stopped.
A lump of liquid rises in my throat as I spit it out.
"Ack! Ack!!! Uk..."
It's blood.
F-Fuck...why is it awake? My entire body screams in pain, I think I broke my rib.
The serpent cries out as she swoops into the sky. Is she crying?
The serpent dives at me as I gather an orb of the void with my palms. I swing my arms out to break apart a large crack in the void, a black creature with sprinkles of stars on its skin shows.
?!
The serpent collides with the creature and it splits apart like a liquid.
However, the liquid creature quickly engulfs the serpent's head and separates it from the rest of the torso, instantly killing the serpent.
?!!!!
I gaze in awe at the bizarre lump of monster.
The void creature proceeds out of the barrier and covers the remaining corpse. Is it eating the serpent?
The corpse instantly disappears when it touches the body of the creature.
"Um..."
The creature turns its attention to me. The skill description said that I will temporary subdue any creature summoned... Did I really subdue it?
I will die.
The creature's fluid solidifies into fine thin spikes and thrusts toward me.
!!!
I raise my hand by reflex but the spikes splash upon contact and engulf my entire body.
?!!
"What?"
"Ueueueueue..."
Is it giggling? The creature is...playing with me?
This is the feeling of drowning. But I'm not dying, I can breathe?
A sudden outburst of Qi flows into my dantian.
"Uck!!!!" I grit my teeth. It's giving me the Qi it absorbed from the serpent.
My body feels like exploding!!
Arghh!!!!
The creature notices it and parts of its fluid flow into my body through my mouth, nose, and ears.
?!!!
F-Fuck what is it doing? It feels very uncomfortable and weird. It forces itself into my meridians and to my Dantian.
I don't know what it did but I was relieved of my pain and the Qi was instantly circulated all around my body from my Dantian, further strengthening my cultivation base.
!
9th stage of Core Formation!
The fluid dissipates and my body drops to the ground.
Huff...huff...
I can't feel my body, it's entirely numb.
I slash a huge crack and point at it. The creature giggles a bit before swiftly entering the void before the barrier repairs.
...
What the fuck just happened?
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Third form:
Summons a life form from the void and temporary subdue it.
Cooldown: 3 days.
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