239 Mutation

Hei Gou was fighting with the pain that was wreaking havoc in his body. He was not losing his consciousness, but the pain was so severe that it made him wish that he could slip into unconsciousness or even die. Still, he understood that his strength would skyrocket if he managed to persevere through this. He could feel it rising as things were right now.

Xue Wei and Lin Xiao could not cultivate as all the heaven-and-earth essence in the carriage was being greedily absorbed by Hei Gou.

At first, they were watching over him, fearful that something would go wrong, but after a day they understood that they could do nothing about it.

Xue Wei sat back on his bench and found all the many different martial art techniques that he had gotten in the auction back in Golden Crow City.

There were a full twenty-nine techniques in front of him; most of them were superior ranked and there were also a few profound martial art techniques.

A few of them were sword techniques, some relied on the physical body and some used spiritual energy.

Xue Wei sorted them all out while sometimes glancing at the pain-riddled Hei Gou to ensure that he was still alive.

First, he sorted the abilities after their type. One stack consisted of the ones that require spiritual energy, the other of the ones that require Qi.

After having split them into these two groups, he further split the Qi techniques into another two depending on whether they required a weapon or not.

After this, he was surrounded by three stacks of martial art techniques.

He quickly placed the Qi techniques into his storage ring and focused on the spiritual energy techniques.

The first book he picked up was about a superior skill called Mind Vision. It was a non-combat ability, but it had great uses. It allowed the user to see through the eyes of their targets, without the target being able to sense it.

He quickly started practicing this ability with Bai Tianyi as his target. The reason he chose Tianyi was very simple—he was the best at using spiritual energy among them, so once he manages to use it without Tianyi noticing, then it would have been perfected.

Lin Xiao kept watching Hei Gou closely while talking with Bai Tianyi. They could not cultivate and they had no skills to practice so they engaged in casual banter.

"So you were a genius only seen once in a millennium? What is so special about you?" Bai Tianyi asked in a slightly rude way, but Lin Xiao did not seem upset about it.

"I can determine whether or not a person is a human or beast with a single glance," Lin Xiao said with some pride. Bai Tianyi looked at him with praise in his eyes. "That must be very convenient," he could not help but state in praise. Lin Xiao grinned at him.

"At the same time, I also have cultivation talent that is almost second to none," Lin Xiao continued smugly. "I was supposed to be in the army by now, but because of my outstanding performance and value, the temple would not let me go and got a permission to keep me away."

"I had looked forward to leaving that stale old temple and seeing the world for once, but I got nothing but old men telling me to train hard. I couldn't bear living like that for the rest of my life! I had no choice but to escape."

Bai Tianyi could see some desperation in Lin Xiao's eyes, as if his old lifestyle had been dreadfully oppressive to him.

"Well, I am sure you will experience quite a thrilling life following us around," Bai Tianyi was not sure of what else to say.

Lin Xiao nodded his head. "I have no doubt about that," he said decisively.

Like this, time passed by. Hei Gou's groans of pain were growing less frequent, he stopped trembling as much, and at some point he managed to prop himself up and sit with his legs crossed. Although the pain was still wreaking havoc in his body, he had now managed to control it.

Last time he underwent a mutation, his body had changed and evolved, but now every cell in his body was mutating. He would no longer be a Celestial Dog once his mutation ends. He would be a completely new race.

Xue Wei glanced at him from time to time, but most of his focus was on learning Mind Vision, which he slowly mastered.

At the start, Bai Tianyi could clearly sense every time Xue Wei cast the ability, but as time went on he had to actively search his mind to see whether or not his friend had started tapping his vision, and eventually he could not even sense this.

On the third day, Xue Wei smiled happily as he had finally mastered the Mind Vision to the very limit. At the same time, Hei Gou spat out a mouthful of foul air and slowly opened his eyes, which were glowing golden.

His hair was still black, but there was a dark purple shine to it. His body seemed much stronger than it had been before, the muscles bulging under his clothes.

"Are you okay now?" Xue Wei asked curiously and with some concern. "It seemed to be a rather tough mutation compared to last."

"It was painful!" Hei Gou instantly wheezed. His voice was slightly hoarse as if his throat had dried up.

"I have never experienced a pain like this before, but everything about my body has been changed. I cannot wait to see what my original shape has changed to, but I can't very well try it out in here considering the sheer size.

"I can feel my entire body bursting with energy. In the future I will no longer hold you back!" He grinned as he looked himself over. "I am now at the ninth layer of the Earth Knight rank with my physical strength, and my Qi level has risen all the way to the fourth layer of the Earth Knight realm!"

Xue Wei raised an eyebrow in surprise. Hei Gou's advance was even better than when he had his bloodline awakened the first time around. It was clear how frightening the blood awakening had been this time.

Hei Gou was ecstatic. He had been the weakest in their group for quite some time, but now he was once more a reliable fighter. His innate talent had also improved drastically now that he had mutated again. It was likely that he would never fall far behind in the future in terms of cultivation alone.

Xue Wei looked at Hei Gou and nodded his head. It made sense that he had benefited greatly after undergoing such a painful procedure.

He did not envy Hei Gou. Rather, he was very happy for his friend, and felt that he deserved it after struggling for so long.

Xue Wei looked at his hand and glanced at the Heritage Ring adorning his finger. He had not activated it since he had gotten it back. He was not sure if he should.

This was a present from Xiao Lei, and it was clearly not a simple treasure. It was definitely very valuable, but he was still unsure of whether or not he should use it to raise his strength. His emotions towards his uncle were still incredibly complex.

"That is the Heritage Ring?" Bai Tianyi noticed his complex glance and saw what he was looking at. He quickly guessed Xue Wei's emotions.

"It will be a shame not using the ring," he voiced his thoughts. "The techniques within the Heritage Ring are definitely the cream of the crop. They will make you much stronger, and make our survivability much better."

Xue Wei understood what Bai Tianyi meant. Even if he felt complex emotions towards his uncle, he still understood that said uncle cared deeply for him.

He sighed. He could not completely control his emotions, but he understood what Bai Tianyi meant. If he could raise his strength even if just a little, then he should do so.

They were about to encounter a new continent, a place they had no idea about, and thus their only option was to prepare brute strength, becoming as strong as possible that is, as their final card.

Nodding his head, he decided it was time to put his emotions aside. Xue Wei poured his Qi into the ring.

He was not sure what exactly to expect when he poured the Qi into his ring. It had been a long time since he last used the Heritage Ring, so a lot of skills could appear at once.

Unfortunately, the skills suited for the earlier ranks were locked because he had exceeded them already, and as a result he could only unlock the skills available to the Ordinary Knight rank.

Still, they were not weak. Four abilities appeared in front of him in the form of four different complex patterns that hovered in the air before they shot into his mind.

Of these abilities, the first two were Qi martial art techniques and the other two spiritual energy skills.. All of them appeared to be profound techniques too.

The first ability was called the Sky's Judgement and created lightning bolts from Qi. Imitating the heavenly tribulation lightning, it struck nine times, each time stronger than the last.

Sky's Judgement was a powerful martial art technique that required the user to constantly channel Qi into the art before being able to fully unleash the might of the nine lightning strikes.

The second ability was Qi Flamestrike. This technique made one's Qi imitate flames and shoot from the ground while hurting anyone you wished to hurt in your surroundings. The drain of Qi while using this skill was immense, but the results were equally destructive.

It was rare to find an ability that could hit more than one person at a time, so these techniques were safely guarded by those who owned them. It was something Xue Wei would not have found if not for the Heritage Ring.

The third ability used spiritual energy and was called Psychic Wrath. It was a direct attack, allowing one to materialize spiritual energy as a seal in one's hand. Similar to normal Qi attacks, physical contact was required to land it.

Psychic Wrath was also rather spectacular because of its ability to manifest spiritual energy outside of the body and create a seal from it. Usually, spiritual energy was used to infiltrate another's mind, so to be able to do this, it was without a doubt a great feat.

The final ability was called Deadly Whispers. What this ability did was cause the target to suddenly succumb to their worries, which echoed in their mind as though someone was incessantly whispering it into their ears, seeking to corrode their mind.

Xue Wei was especially very keen on Deadly Whispers, as he would be able to use this ability on multiple targets to lower their abilities during a battle. Even if they were able to endure for some time, it would be impossible to not be affected by it.

These four skills made his head hurt as they embedded themselves in his mind. The others did not speak to him meanwhile. They all understood that he had to digest and understand the techniques before they could converse with him again, lest they disturb his learning.

Xue Wei sat with his legs crossed and tried to slowly comprehend his new abilities.

Lin Xiao and Hei Gou were patiently waiting for him to finish, but Bai Tianyi was on the other hand especially impatient. He had seen the quick overview of the abilities and noticed that two of them were spiritual energy attacks. He wanted to learn about them, and if possible, he wanted to inherit them as well!