Book 9: Chapter 4 – Undying Body
Xue Ying’s Qi Avatar continued to keep watch over the Demonic Faction Headquarters, paying special attention to the huge body contained within the bronze coffin that was hanging in the secret room.
……
The boundless ocean was both shallow and deep. At times, it’s depth was between 10 to 15 meters, but other times, it could reach over a hundred meters deep.
Xue Ying dived straight towards the ocean’s seabed until he was obstructed by an invisible barrier that forced him to a stop. As he flew around the barrier, he examined the area within 250 kilometers of his position.
Three years and eleven months into the investigation.
Hu—
Xue Ying flew inside the Mirage as a streak of light. Looking up from the depths of the sea, he spotted an enormous island that spanned hundreds of kilometers in length. There was even a city the size of a county on this island. Overall, the ocean covered a greater area than dry land. It also had numerous islands, both small and large, scattered all around with numerous human inhabitants.
Of the six great Transcendent Organisations, the Sea Deity Palace was responsible for the entire area covered by the ocean.
Inside this county-sized city was a bustling river. Sitting under a crooked tree on a chair was a lonely-looking elder. In one hand he held a log, while in the other, a carving knife. He carved away at the log while a child waited by his side.
As a cold wind blew past him, the elder looked at the log with deep emotion in his eyes. The wood shavings fluttered in the air before transforming a woman with a valiant, heroic aura.
“Sister Ping, if you were still alive… we could have been spending our time eating breakfast from the street stalls, walking through the busy streets and drinking wine on the rooftops. You told me before that this is how you’d like to spend the day. But, if you look at me now… perhaps you will not even recognize me,” the elder whispered to himself. His voice was so quiet that no one could hear it, not even the young attendant next to him.
Ships continued to come and go on the nearby bustling river, most of them belonging to the rich and noble.
Two licentious men were enjoying the breeze as they talked loudly atop a flower boat that had as many pretty girls as there were clouds.
“Brother Zhu, look. That old man over there,” said one of the men as he laughed and pointed his finger towards the distance. He had a tall, skinny frame. “In such a cold, deep winter, and with this chilly, damp wind blowing on the river bank, he is actually in the mood for carving? He even let that frail kid stand there. How pompous.”
“Indeed, he looks even more pompous than we do. Though, don’t you think that despite his white hair, this old man still looks handsome? He might even hook some of these sisters on our flower boat,” replied one of the other youths with a plump body.
“I can’t stand any person that is more handsome than me. Even less so when that person is an old man! Watch me harass him!” The tall, skinny youth looked around before grabbing a long bamboo oar from the boat’s deck. He used it to steer towards the lonely-looking elder.
Hua.
The ice-cold midwinter river stirred and its crystal-clear water sprinkled towards the old man. The tall, skinny youth seemed to have a decent level of cultivation as the amount of water he stirred up from the river was ample in volume and his aim was high enough.
A portion of the water fell directly on top of the old man and his young attendant. However, as if they were illusory, the water passed over them and spilled on the ground. Even the chair and the box did not have a drop of water on them.
“Ah!” The tall, skinny youth with the bamboo oar was left stunned at this scene. He couldn’t help but rub his eyes, unable to believe what he had just seen. Did the water just pass through a human body? Without even touching it?
The plump youth who had been watching from the sidelines also stared with wide eyes.
The elder raised his head to look towards two young nobles on the nearby flower boat.
With just a glance.
“Aiya!”
Waves shook the flower boat, forcing the tall, skinny youth to stagger off the deck and into the river. Splash. Water splashed everywhere. The plump youth also tumbled down, splitting his mouth.
The plump youth looked at the lonely elder, feeling deeply shocked. Just before when the river water seemed to pass through the elder’s body as if it were illusory, he realized that this old man must have been a big shot. Brother Zou used the water from the river to try to spray this old man and ended up falling into the river. I used my mouth to encourage him, and I got my mouth split. Moreover, everything occurred so naturally that it almost seemed like an accident. Thankfully, I only split my mouth.
The more he thought about it, the more terrified he became.
Precisely at this time…
Hundreds of meters below the ground, Xue Ying passed by that location inside the Mirage.
The elder’s hand that was holding the knife paused. After teasing those two brats back, the old man’s brow wrinkled. He turned his head in the direction of Xue Ying. Since there was a distance of hundreds of kilometers between them, larger than Xue Ying’s search perimeter, he could not detect the old man’s gaze.
“This Xia Clan World has become more interesting. Surprisingly, there is someone here who can travel inside the Mirage. More and more powerful characters are showing up!” The old man stood up and ordered, “Kid, let’s go back.”
“Yes, master!” The child tidied up the box, folding it together with the chair. He then put them on his shoulder and left with the old man.
As the distance between them shortened to only about 250 kilometers, Xue Ying scanned the area with the Mirage. His quick scan revealed nothing, prompting him to continue on to other areas.
……
Five years had passed since Xue Ying left Snowrock Castle to begin his search.
On an island covering an area of hundreds of kilometers, Xue Ying sat on a beach. Some fishing boats were floating on the nearby waters. The inhabitants of this island had been fishermen for generations.It was deep into the night however, so the fishermen on the boats were currently asleep.
Sitting on the beach, Xue Ying laid out several Origin Stone fragments in front of him. His finger lightly touched one of them, causing him to swallow the primitive World Energy inside with a craze. The Origin Stone turned to powder in less than a second. His rate of absorption was so fast that the nearby stones quickly reduced in number, prompting new ones to appear.
The Magic Dragon Art crazily absorbed the energy within the Origin Stones. Every part of his flesh, his muscles and bones were absorbing more and more energy. It was as the proverb said—’a quantitative change will lead to a qualitative change’. Although humans did not possess the innate gifts of demons nor the powerful bodies of native Transcendents, after absorbing exorbitant amounts of Origin Stones, even their bodies could break through and become stronger!
Weng!
Xue Ying felt every part of his body roar. There had been a faint qualitative change in him.
It felt so comfortable!
His blood flowed with greater force as his cells brimmed with terrifying vitality. It seemed as if every cell in his body could instantly heal itself. Even if his heart were to be shattered, his brain and his other vital parts broken, his vitality could still heal them. With this kind of vitality, perhaps he could even heal damage at a cellular level!
Of course, in order to repair damage on the cellular level, his vitality would be consumed at an astonishing rate. If he drained all of his vitality, that would spell death for him.
Undying body! A hint of a smile appeared on Xue Ying’s face. His body had finally reached the middle stage of the Saint realm. On top of that, he had acquired an undying body!
In the Dark Abyss, only rank four and above demons had undying bodies. Meanwhile, all of their Demigods had undying bodies!
Unless their opponent had the absolute upper hand, anyone possessing an undying body would be hard to kill.
In this aspect, humans were too weak.
Usually, the human body was unable to practice enhancing arts of that sort. Only those who had awakened their primordial bloodlines could use Origin Stones to store up energy and attain a qualitative change.
I have three True Meanings and have successfully cultivated an undying body. Only those top Demigods could, perhaps, hurt me. As for killing me… Xue Ying was in a good mood. He had already raised his body to the middle stage of the Saint realm, so he could try to attain the second awakening of his bloodline next. If that also succeeded, he would certainly reach the peak of the Saint realm.
The required amount of Origin Stones, however… was so large that even if all of the Transcendent Worlds surrounding the Xia Clan World were dug up, it would still not be enough. That amount was simply unrealistic.
It was already incredible that he had reached the middle stage of the Saint Realm.