Chapter 837
Chapter 837 - 823: Blooming
1,356 words
•
7 min read
Those sacrifices were the beasts from the Beast Taming Garden in the courtyard.
Mostly products of the Exotic Realm, but many had already completed hybridization with the local species...... They were ultimately eliminated, to avoid contaminating the gene pool of the ethnic group, they were placed into the storehouse for those culled.
But now, as Otherworldly species, as flavors the Abyss had never tried, as "pure beings" unimaginably low in contamination, they were indeed the most suitable sacrifices.
As for whether the sacrifices were human, whether they possessed intelligence? To the Abyss, it made no difference.
No need to slaughter, nor to be placed upon altars, the world took away its Gift.
"Aooo! Aooo!"
The wolf pack on the altars mutated amidst screams, meeting their respective ends on their own levels.
Most went ’splat’ and instantly turned into blood mud and blood water.
Some were luckier, morphing into bizarre Demons in their disfigurement... and then met their endpoints directly, turning into clumps of flesh without any significance.
Others in their distortion became completely different Demons; some had wolf heads on human bodies, others human bodies with wolf heads, and still others sheep’s heads on wolf bodies..... all kinds of twisted existences, as if numerous gene modules were crammed into one being.
In the end, there seemed to be no difference from before; more "blood clumps" appeared on the ground.
This spectacle rendered Lu Ping’an silent, not because of the horror of the scene, but because...
"How come this looks so familiar....."
The scene reminded Lu Ping’an of the Life system, his own "investment," the so-called "modules" that made up the life forms.
"...Could it be, the Abyss is also of the Life system, no, the Eternal Moving Spirits..."
A somewhat terrifying answer seemed to be right before him, and the subsequent evolution provided Lu Ping’an with the answer.
More than ninety percent of the sacrifices ultimately turned into blood mud, and the Abyss rewarded the sacrificers with an even richer Abyss Aura.
Before Lu Ping’an’s very eyes, Zhi Xi was enveloped by foggy gas, the Abyss rewarded her dedication, and granted her a several-fold return... but this was not the point at all!
Under Lu Ping’an’s "watchful eye," a few wolves finally completed their mutations and stabilized.
One, a hybrid with a wolf’s head and a beast’s body, stood upright with balanced physique and limbs, appearing almost humanoid.
One, with a sturdy body and sharp fangs, the young pup now resembled a small calf.
One, mutated with two heads and two wings as well as a twisting serpent’s tail, seemed ready to spread its wings and fly.
Before Lu Ping’an’s eyes, the lengthy history of biological evolution was condensed into mere minutes or even seconds, with new species emerging before him.
Although they clearly bore traits of Abyss Transformation and many still showed features of Earth’s native species (seized and eroded by This World), they were, in all respects, fairly stable species.
An even stranger scene unfolded before him.
The blood water from the "sacrifices" that had melted wasn’t wasted either.
Sparks of life ignited anew on the original "mud."
After establishing the new species standards, those clumps of flesh regrouped once again, they began to reorganize... miniature "Beastmen," "Big Dogs," "Two-headed Winged Wolves" were being created.
The moment they appeared, they started to fight each other, engaging in struggle, predation, and cannibalism.
The victors? In the end, the wolf-headed Half-beastmen actually won... they ingested the flesh and blood of their kindred, growing stronger, their eyes seemingly gaining a bit more wisdom.
The losers didn’t become extinct, some of them fled, adding new categories to the already ludicrous diversity of Abyss life forms.
The Abyss is a meat grinder, a great melting pot, and a chaotic stew, but what ultimately comes out of the stew is...
"Lu Ping’an!"
Zhi Xi’s call drew Lu Ping’an’s attention.
At this moment, she was excitedly revealing her arm, upon which a magic pattern faintly flowed.
The pattern ascended her right arm like a golden Long Snake.
Lu Ping’an saw precisely what he had hoped for—the Abyss True Words he had just acquired.
[Profanity True Words: One-eyed Newman’s Poison Kiss.]
[Summon the shadow of Duke Newman to bind a target, or to swallow life within a region.]
True Words have no ranks; their upper and lower limits are quite vague, because they are fundamentally borrowed powers, with their strength directly linked to the strength and distance of the source.]
[In This World, this ability operates at a minimum of Lower Gold level, and is expected to reach Silver Lower to Upper Silver level on Earth, please use with caution.]
[The True Words have two modes of use: ’Snake Binding’ for single targets, once a day, lasting up to thirty seconds. ’Snake Swallowing’ for regional attacks, once a week, duration unknown.]
[True Words are not like regular professional abilities; their consequences often involve a high degree of unpredictability and randomness, so please use with caution.]
[Note: Duke Newman enjoys ’Delicacies.’ To use the ability smoothly and avoid being swallowed along with the next ’Snake Swallowing,’ please provide a sufficient amount of ’Shadow Delicacies’ before using it.]
It seemed Zhi Xi had drawn an ability that was both a binding and an attack form?
"A gluttonous Newman? You’ve drawn quite a nice ability—the fellow is an absurdly gluttonous snake that resides in the shadow Plane, a very weird higher-dimensional creature. Its Abyss title is probably that of a grand duke..."
The source of Zhi Xi’s draw was not simply the Abyss, but a powerful Evil God.
It is said to be a shadow life form whose very existence is a form of binding and a Plane anchor.
This ought to be a quite Powerful binding and space ability... being able to borrow a "trait ability" from a god-level existence, even for just an instant, could be enough to completely turn the tide of battle.]
"How do you feel? Any discomfort?"
"...Fine, it’s just this magic pattern... it’s comfortable."
Zhi Xi could feel that ever since she acquired the True Words and this snake pattern, her compatibility with This World had increased, with more Abyss Aura continuously integrating into her body.
She had clearly become stronger; it was as if her body had gained a heartbeat, bringing her even closer to real life.
Eager to try out her new toy, she was stopped by Lu Ping’an; using powerful abilities for experimentation was not cost-effective, especially when a fight could break out at any time.
Seeing Zhi Xi land a great advantage, Lu Ping’an was even more eager to see what he could obtain from the Stone Tablet.
The gifts from "sacrifice" are often random, but if one could truly parse out the original True Words through the Scholar Ability, the gains would be much more stable.
Lu Ping’an was also diligently flipping through books, as "translating" a book naturally required a corresponding accumulation of script.
He had briefly looked at the language of the Abyss before giving up... The Abyss didn’t have a common language, and the myriad of chaotic Species made communication quite unrealistic; the nature of the Abyss itself also determined there was no need for a so-called "language."
The languages and records here are mostly the legacy of Species that had become completely submerged in the Abyss.
But many had fallen into the Abyss long ago, and the powerful entities from their civilizations had also risen to become high-end inhabitants of the Abyss, imbuing their residual "text" with special Power.
The book Lu Ping’an was currently flipping through belonged to the library of that unfortunate pseudo-lord, and as he flipped, he collected a lot of useful and useless intelligence.
Among them, the most helpful for Lu Ping’an and even the entire Human side was the specific information about the locale as well as the basic data on several lord bosses who took the lead in starting conflicts,
— End of Chapter 837 —