HBWnovel Chapter 231: Transcendent Life Form, Blood Armor Possession!
Chapter 231: Transcendent Life Form, Blood Armor Possession!
The glowing golden entry stood out conspicuously in the index, representing a power far above ordinary transcendents.Moreover, compared to the naming conventions of other infection sources and the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch, the human name "Tan Ming" was quite striking within the recorded entries.
Cheng Ye's eyes flickered slightly as he used his intent to click on the entry.
The interface shifted to a new page.
The first thing to pop up was the recorded image, which was precisely the two blood-colored figures he had repeatedly hacked to pieces until they finally dissolved into a red aura.
In the second image, withered and yellowed vegetation could be seen surrounding the figures, clearly documenting the power of "Tan Ming" and the traces of his activity.
Below the images, lines of text slowly materialized:
[Tan Ming (Transcendent Life Form)]
[Description]: Rumored to be a transcendent from the previous era who suffered a backlash from his own obsession. After his death, the power within his body did not dissipate, but instead deeply fused with the subterranean soil of Shi Province, forming a unique pollution mechanism. This pollution lacks active aggressiveness; it only passively extracts the vitality of plants within its range and converts it into mineral elements, accelerating the formation of underground mineral deposits.
[Current Impact Level]: None (This pollution only affects plant-related life)
[Currently Recorded Traits]:
Vitality Extraction (127%)
Vitality Conversion (135%)
Withering Battle Armor (58.55%)
'Only three items? And no transcendent-related traits?'
Cheng Ye looked at the index panel, momentarily stunned.
Compared to the fully-loaded, luxurious transcendent traits of the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch, the three traits provided by Tan Ming were surprisingly less abundant than those of a common infection source.
Vitality Extraction should be the skill the blood-colored figures used just now while lying on the ground, absorbing the vitality from the surrounding vegetation.
Vitality Conversion, as the name suggested, was Tan Ming's core ability to alter the earth, converting plant vitality into minerals.
As for the Withering Battle Armor, no matter how he looked at the name, it had nothing to do with the immortal rebirth ability displayed by the blood-colored figures; instead, it sounded like some sort of defensive skill.
The only bright spot was that none of these three traits carried an asterisk, which meant he could equip, use, and test their effects freely. He could also elevate their level and tier through information fusion without being restricted by pollution.
Moreover, the accumulation speed was simply exaggerated. Having only killed two blood-colored figures, the first two basic traits had already exceeded the 100% extraction limit.
'Could it be because these blood-colored figures only carry a portion of Tan Ming's power?'
Cheng Ye's eyes flickered; this reason alone was utterly unconvincing.
After all, he could occasionally collect complete traits of the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch from those crab-men. Yet, the blood-colored figures were clearly Tan Ming's derivatives but only left behind this much information, which was truly bizarre.
What surprised him even more was that the Collector's classification for Tan Ming was actually "Transcendent Life Form".
Didn't this mean that Tan Ming had long since shed his human identity and, much like the Vortex Turtle and Little Flame, had evolved into an entirely new form of life?
This discovery was astonishing enough, but now was clearly not the time to scrutinize Tan Ming's condition.
After a moment of thought, Cheng Ye decided to exchange for Vitality Extraction first to test its effects. If he could master this pollution skill, it would be equivalent to gaining another method to weaken the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch's energy.
After all, the Dharma Conch needed to maintain the vitality within the cavern. If the vitality was extracted, its energy levels would naturally drop.
Furthermore, those blood-colored figures were too stupid; they didn't know how to kite or position themselves, making them easy targets for the crab-men to surround and kill. But he was different. If the skill was truly useful, his pollution speed would absolutely be much faster than that of the figure legion.
[Trait Exchanged Successfully!]
[The skill exchanged this time is: Vitality Extraction (Lv1; Excellent)]
It was only Lv1, and its rating was merely Excellent.
Cheng Ye was not surprised. He immediately equipped the skill and focused his mind to feel it.
No illusions appeared, only a faint, indistinct sense of perception, as if he could vaguely "touch" a certain kind of energy in his surroundings.
Following this perception, he swiftly moved to a nearby area of vitality that had not yet been polluted. Imitating the posture of the blood-colored figures, he bent down and pressed his palm against the ground.
Swoosh.
In an instant, that vague perception suddenly became crystal clear, and the sight in his left eye changed as well.
The originally towering and sturdy trees, the verdant vines, and the weeds all transformed into luminous bodies condensed from green energy. Even the earth beneath his feet was dyed with a heavy layer of green halos. The entire world seemed to have shifted into an "energy perspective".
'So this is the physical manifestation of vitality?'
Cheng Ye raised an eyebrow and turned to look at the withered area behind him.
Sure enough, not a speck of green energy could be seen on the yellowed vegetation. Only a few exceptionally thick trees still had faint green dots flickering at their roots.
Could the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch be repairing this drained land?
This thought popped into his mind, but he was immediately troubled by a new question.
'How am I supposed to extract it?'
Looking at the green energy floating around him, Cheng Ye was stumped for a moment.
This skill came with no guiding instructions; he could only rely on his perception to slowly experiment.
He silently chanted "extract" and "absorb" in his mind, and even tried to "pull" the green energy with his intent, but the energy remained perfectly still.
After trying several times with no effect, Cheng Ye immediately realized the issue. He simply stood up and exchanged for Vitality Conversion as well.
[Trait Exchanged Successfully!]
[The skill exchanged this time is: Vitality Conversion (Lv1; Excellent)]
The moment both skills were equipped together, the effect instantly manifested!
Although Vitality Extraction bore the name of "extraction", it actually only allowed him to sense the vitality of surrounding plants.
Only when Vitality Conversion was equipped would that energy follow his intent and draw itself out from the plants.
Wisps of green aura were rapidly extracted from the large tree next to his hand. Cheng Ye tried to flick these green wisps outward with his intent, and the aura dispersed as expected.
But in the next second, he was stunned to discover that the scattered green energy was bound by an invisible fluctuation. Like a kite being reeled back in, it drilled right back into the trunk of the very same tree, not losing a single trace.
"Heh, is this the power of the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch?"
Cheng Ye narrowed his eyes.
Tan Ming's methods were astonishing, capable of rendering the tens of millions of residents in Shi Province unable to farm.
But for the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch to be able to expand vitality right under his nose, it clearly relied on more than just the Demonic Eye Sponge's isolation capabilities; it possessed its own ability to bind this vitality.
'Since there is no way to let the vitality dissipate into the space, the only option is to absorb and utilize it myself, completely exhausting the energy...'
Cheng Ye reopened the index, his gaze sweeping across the densely packed trait entries before finally resting on the "Green Jewel Bug" entry.
Life Emissary!
The Green Jewel Bug could also absorb vitality and convert it into its own power, even relying on this energy to metamorphose into a Silver Jewel Moth.
He wondered if this trait could utilize the currently extracted vitality and convert it into a life force he could use.
Besides that, Withering Battle Armor also seemed to consume energy. Perhaps it could convert vitality into a defensive shield, depleting it directly into the surrounding space.
He turned to look at Luo Kuke, who was guarding nearby. "I need to go out for a bit to prepare some potions. Are you coming with me, or..."
The testing had taken no more than a minute, yet Luo Kuke had already taken down four crab-men that had rushed over upon hearing the commotion. Those crab-men had also shrunk in proportion. Although they were roughly forty centimeters tall, for a Third-stage Inspector, as long as he wasn't swarmed, dealing with them was a breeze.
"I'll stay here and continue helping Tan Ming's curse extract the Immortal Item's energy."
Luo Kuke shook his head, pointing toward the depths of the cavern. "These crab-men are clumsy, and the cavern space is huge, so there's no need to worry about my safety. It's more efficient if we split up. I'll go scout the locations and information of the internal infection sources. There's still a long time today, we have plenty of time to prepare."
"Alright!" Cheng Ye nodded. The two quickly agreed to rendezvous at the high ground in front of the lake at noon, then hastily parted ways in the woods.
It was only seven in the morning now. There were a full eleven hours until six in the evening; time was abundant.
More importantly, Tan Ming had sealed off the Light Gate used by the crab-men, rendering the outside world completely safe.
As long as they could contain the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch before its Immortal Item domain erupted again, all danger could be eliminated.
However, he didn't dare to let his guard down. The situation was still under the Dharma Conch's control. What if Tan Ming's curse invaded further, forcing it into a desperate corner where it chose to self-destruct?
Following the sounds of battle, Cheng Ye charged toward the surrounding battlefield with his twin blades in hand. He successively hacked over thirty crab-men to death and smashed apart seven blood-colored figures.
It wasn't until the "Withering Battle Armor" trait was fully maxed out, and both "Vitality Extraction" and "Vitality Conversion" hit 100%, that he returned to the Light Gate. There, he slaughtered the nearly one hundred crab-men the Demonic Eye Sponge had dispatched to guard the vicinity, wiping them out completely.
"It's hard to deal with these guys when they're clumped together by the lake, but it's much easier when they're spread out."
Cheng Ye muttered to himself. He passed through the Light Gate, slipped into his sponge suit, and dashed out of the Chamber.
At this moment, the Collector still had 50% energy, just enough to exchange for new traits.
First, he exchanged for the Green Jewel Bug's trait, "Life Emissary".
[Trait Exchanged Successfully!]
[The skill exchanged this time is: Life Emissary (Lv1; Excellent)]
"Huh, it's actually Excellent as well?"
Cheng Ye was slightly surprised, and then he proceeded to exchange for Tan Ming's final trait.
[Trait Exchanged Successfully!]
[The skill exchanged this time is: Withering Battle Armor (Lv1; Rare)]
"Rare tier?"
"Not bad!"
Looking at the Recharge Value resetting to zero, and the few remaining sponge tentacles.
Cheng Ye tried to hold it in, but ultimately couldn't resist, laughing silently in his heart.
He really hit the jackpot this time!
Swoosh.
Shrinking his body, his blades flashed in rapid succession.
Under the steady stream of energy replenishment, the Recharge Value rapidly increased at a visible rate.
After severing eighty tentacles and refilling the energy, Cheng Ye wasn't in a hurry to exchange for new traits. Instead, he first chose to fuse Vitality Extraction and Vitality Conversion.
These two skills originated from the same source anyway; using them separately was awkward and wasted trait slots.
The index page unfurled, and the phantoms of two blood-colored figures materialized, merging into one without any hindrance:
[The information fusion process has been completed. Fusion result: Rare]
[The Civilization Collector has successfully recorded the new fused skill: Vitality Absorption (Lv1; Rare)]
Two Excellent-tier skills had directly fused into a Rare-tier!
Cheng Ye was overjoyed. He decided to strike while the iron was hot, fusing the Green Jewel Bug's "Life Emissary" with the newly forged "Vitality Absorption".
The index book flipped open.
The gem-like Green Jewel Bug looked completely harmless.
But the moment the fusion began, the phantom of the blood-colored figure collapsed like a defeated army, effortlessly absorbed by the Green Jewel Bug's phantom. Finally, fine, dense blood-colored veins surfaced upon the Green Jewel Bug's body.
[The information fusion process has been completed. Fusion result: Rare]
[The Civilization Collector has successfully recorded the new fused skill: Life Emissary (Lv1; Rare)]
'Tan Ming's trait was actually completely absorbed by the Green Jewel Bug?!'
Cheng Ye looked at the panel notification, slightly dumbfounded.
If the Green Jewel Bug could continuously absorb vitality and grow into a Silver Jewel Moth, it would possess a pollution capability no less than a Tide-level threat, and its scattered moth powder could easily infect unprotected humans.
Above the Silver Jewel Moth was an even more terrifying evolution, the Golden Jewel Moth, which could reach a Disaster-level threat.
Even in the records provided by the Kindling Terminal, there was an even higher tier, the Radiant Scale Mother, which was comparable to a Ruin-level infection source.
However, this evolutionary path was far too long, and the required vitality energy was an astronomical figure.
In the vitality-barren Shi Province, let alone the Golden Jewel Moth, even the Silver Jewel Moth was exceptionally rare.
Yet this exactly proved that the Green Jewel Bug's potential ceiling was incredibly high. Easily absorbing Tan Ming's trait seemed to stand to reason.
Cheng Ye pondered for a moment and simply decided to strike while the iron was hot once more, fusing the "Withering Battle Armor" with the newly formed "Life Emissary".
On the index page.
The Green Jewel Bug phantom, draped in blood-colored veins, indeed devoured the blood-colored figure representing the "Withering Battle Armor" without any pressure. The crimson veins on its body grew increasingly dense, and its originally crystalline emerald texture gradually faded, replaced by the chilling appearance of a bloodstone.
But the notification that popped up in the next second left Cheng Ye completely stunned:
[The information fusion process has been completed. Fusion result: Perfect]
[The Civilization Collector has successfully recorded the new fused skill: Envoy of Tan Ming (Lv1; Perfect)]
"Wait... what is this thing?"
"What happened to Life Emissary?"
Cheng Ye was somewhat bewildered. It was clear that the Green Jewel Bug held the absolute upper hand during the fusion process, absorbing the blood-colored figures, yet the final result was named with Tan Ming as the main entity.
This was his first time fusing a Perfect-tier skill, and he was suddenly a little lost on what to do.
What did this mean?
Could it be that after equipping it, he would become Tan Ming's minion?
However, seeing that there was no asterisk next to the skill, Cheng Ye breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Since the Collector didn't indicate that this skill had additional side effects, he could safely try equipping it.
"There's no time to recharge now, I can only borrow a bit more of your energy..."
Cheng Ye's mouth twitched into a smirk as he lowered his head and continued his vicious slaughter.
Whether it was because the remaining tentacles were thicker or not, the energy value provided by each one was noticeably higher.
He again severed only eighty tentacles, and the energy value was completely replenished once more.
Unfortunately, the Demonic Eye Sponge now only had a hundred and fifty tentacles left, which meant he could recharge at most one and a half times.
"What a pity. My crude method of plundering dissipating energy definitely wasted a lot."
Cheng Ye couldn't help but mutter. "If I could hook up a charging station inside it, the energy conversion rate might increase tenfold or even a hundredfold."
The moment the thought faded, his body automatically floated up. Waiting for the tentacles on the water surface to calm down, he sank underwater once more.
He first enlarged his body, squeezed through the giant gap in the Chamber, and rode the biological elevator to be transported in front of the Light Gate.
'Wait, the blood-colored aura seems... to have weakened?'
Cheng Ye halted his steps. When he had come in earlier, the blood-colored aura clinging to the Light Gate had almost completely covered the entire threshold.
But now, the uppermost fifth of the area had dimmed, and those crimson veins even seemed precarious, as if they would dissipate at any moment.
Was this the impact of him entering and exiting repeatedly?
Cheng Ye stared at the Light Gate for a moment until a wisp of white aura drifted out from inside. It entangled with the blood-colored aura, and the two mutually canceled each other out as they dispersed. Only then did he completely discard that notion.
It was... the Myriad Command Earth Dharma Conch!
Its abilities could actually dispel even Tan Ming's cursed aura?
This was far too terrifying!
Cheng Ye's heart sank. Isolating Tan Ming and dispelling Tan Ming were two entirely different matters. The former was merely passive hiding, while the latter implied it had the strength for direct confrontation.
Could it be that by nightfall, Tan Ming's aura would be completely expelled?
A sense of urgency instantly surged in his heart. No longer bothering to observe, he hastily stripped off his sponge suit and rushed into the Light Gate.
As expected, during his delay outside, a new batch of crab-man guards had "spawned" at the entrance of the Light Gate.
Perhaps it was because he had killed too ruthlessly, but the Demonic Eye Sponge had actually dispatched two fusion entities.
They were a head taller than him, standing over a meter tall. The iron crab-pincer whips on their backs were not four, but a full six. At a glance, they were clearly not easy to deal with.
Cheng Ye didn't dare to drag out the fight. Relying on his doubled speed, he wove through the crab-men, forcefully carving out a bloody path and rapidly charging back toward the lake.
But he hadn't run far when an invisible fluctuation suddenly descended from above, wrapping around him like a marker. Guided by this fluctuation, the scattered crab-men abruptly changed direction. Even more crab-men surged out from the shadows, gradually forming an encircling formation.
'Did the Demonic Eye Sponge notice me, or was it the Dharma Conch?'
Being marked caught Cheng Ye a little off guard, but he didn't panic excessively.
Earlier, when he saw the blood-colored figures being besieged, he had guessed that the crab-men definitely had some sort of "guidance". Now he finally understood; it was this invisible fluctuation.
After dodging to an open clearing again, he opened his panel, and the Perfect-tier "Envoy of Tan Ming" leaped into his skill bar.
In just an instant, that tracking fluctuation seemed to grow even more obvious, all but completely enveloping him within it.
"Since you want to chase me so badly, then I'll just have to make my move!"
Cheng Ye smiled brightly and tugged at his invisible perception.
The next second, his field of vision was instantly blanketed in green vitality energy. The surrounding trees, vines, and even moss turned into glowing bodies of energy.
He gave a violent pull with his intent, yanking massive swells of green energy from the nearby towering trees. The originally verdant trunks withered and shriveled at a visible rate.
At the same time, Cheng Ye attempted to bind this energy and absorb it into his body, but the moment the thought formed, his entire body shuddered.
Only a tiny wisp of vitality sank into his body, and the majority of it was sucked away by the greedy Earth-Shrinking Giant Louse.
However, more than half of the remaining vitality lingered outside his body, seemingly wrapped in an invisible layer of force, refusing to dissipate.
He subconsciously looked down, only to discover that the surface of his skin... No, more accurately, the surface of the Obsidian Battle Armor.
The exterior of the battle armor had, at some unknown point, been shrouded in a thin, blood-colored barrier. The barrier clung tightly to the armor, emitting a faint red glow, actually bearing a striking resemblance to the blood-colored figures he had seen earlier.
'Did I just... become a blood-colored figure too?'