The Ultimate Evolution
chapter-650

Chapter 650: So it’s him!

Noting the effectiveness of this method, Sheyan immediately replicated it with the other parasitic snake. Instead, sensing that something was awry, that Plaga Host beckoned for the other parasitic flesh snake to slither back, before assimilating back into its body.

Fearing that the Plaga Host would spit out another abomination, Sheyan didn’t dare to be impulsive, but watched regrettably as that snake made its escape.

Probably due to absorbing a portion of Sheyan’s life essence, the shriveled rotting facial features of that Plaga Host had strangely replenished a little. Through its exceedingly hideous countenance, Sheyan could roughly identify the main characteristics of the Plaga Host.

“I know your identity!” Sheyan suddenly shouted at the Host. “You’re the captain that brought Bernard Fokke to this desolated land! That wealthy merchant, the one inflicted with an incurable disease yet still seeks for immortality…..Travice! Look at your current state, is this the everlasting life you pursuit for?”

“Tra…vi..ce?” That opposing shriveled corpse recited that name in bewilderment. After a momentary lifelessness, it gradually nodded.

“I’m familiar with that name, perhaps, perhaps that be my name. Aye, but!! The allure of your flesh is irresistible!!”

Travice’s voice abruptly transformed sharper and frantic. His limbs twitched and twisted abnormally as white fluids foamed at his mouth repeatedly. Queer grotesque sounds were emitting from his body, and his shriveled stomach suddenly inflated; causing the scraps of his remaining attire to be stretched into dust.

One could observe the uneven surface of his belly, looking as though it hosted an unknown creature; right in the middle of baring its fangs and claws, as it struggled to break free from its confinement.

In the next second, he widened his mouth at Sheyan again.

This time, the degree of widening reached a seemingly inhuman extent; it practically resembled the obtuse angle of a serpent devouring a huge prey. If an average person were to open his mouth that wide, he would pay the disastrous cost of having a dislocated chin and two lacerations of over 10 centimeters at the corners of his mouth.

A cluster of buzzing sounds echoed out. Following that, dense tiny lumps of flesh catapulted out from Travice’s throat towards Sheyan.

Concurrently, Travice’s tongue shot out; one that didn’t resemble the human tongue. It was scarlet, slender with a bifurcated top! His tongue rolled around in midair with matchless deftness, following a furtive pattern as it curled and orbited around.

Sheyan observed clearly; those tiny lumps of flesh were initially curled up, but upon interacting with the atmosphere, they revealed repulsive features – four fleshy fan wings rapidly bore out from its sparkling red back! Next, were propped up legs and an incisive mandible. They were actually a flock of flesh mosquitoes.

At the moment Travice spat down out, that flock of mosquitoes was just a cluster occupying a basin sized region. Instead, after buzzing 5-6 meters out, it dispersed into a massive blood mist that enveloped towards Sheyan.

Evidently, Travice was entirely different from the other Plaga Hosts that Sheyan had encountered earlier. Even though he was dominated by the feral instincts of feasting and propagation, he still retained a remnant of humanly combat awareness and technique.

Once he discovered its summoned creatures were curbed and eradicated by Sheyan, he immediately swapped to another tactic.

That was apparent in how he proactively retracted that incredibly tenacious parasite snake. Since he was aware of the effectiveness of aerial parasites, he once again resorted to a similar tactic; unleashing a terrifying mass of parasite mosquitoes to lay waste on Sheyan, that his long saber would be rendered useless. His combat wisdom was absolutely not inferior to humans.

In the face of this flock of terrifying flesh mosquitoes, Sheyan’s mind was instead a sea of tranquility. First, he asked himself a single question.

“Do I have a method of dealing with these terrifyingly strange flesh mosquitoes?”

Immediately, he answered himself with a, “No!”

Reflecting on that….since escaping, running away, or even hiding was impossible, what else could he do? Only one world – Endure!

Pushed to such desperations, Sheyan’s eyes blazed with a flaming insanity.

He attempted to activate ‘Horn-Rage’, but failed due to the obstructed vision from the mist. Not discouraged by that, he roared with fury as he buried his head, and charged frantically towards Travice.

“AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”

The impression of this blood-soaked sprint, was completely akin to a wounded ferocious beast. One that was forcibly tearing a way out from its path of despair and torment!!!

“Even in death, I shall die standing!”

“Even if I collapse, it shall be on the path of assault!”

“Even in death, I shall bite off a chunk of your flesh!”

“After centuries of imprisonment, no matter how formidable he can be, he is still a dried up lantern at this stage. Moreover, Travice is clearly unlike the other Plaga Hosts, he relies fully on his parasites to ravage his prey.”

“That Moth-bat parasite he first unleashed, was probably its final sap of vitality previously. Viewing this from another angle, the remaining vitality he drew from me, is being used to animate these parasites to leech from me.”

“Judging from the nourishment sucked by that parasite Moth-bat from my body, it was enough to animate those two parasite snakes to assault me. Afterwards, its Moth-bat parasite and one of the snake parasite was slain, and wasn’t assimilated back into Travice…..”

“This goes to say, the energies of life essence fuelling this flock of flesh mosquitoes to swarm me, is in fact, only equivalent to a single parasite snake!!”

“Therefore, regardless of the innumerable proportion of flesh mosquitoes, their power….is definitely not high. I have a chance at victory!”

Such was Sheyan’s thought process before this. Then, his assailing charge invaded into that massive cluster of flesh mosquitoes. A list of combat statistics instantly rolled out.

[ You received an attack by a ‘???’ unknown creature. You receive 27 points of damage. Innate ability ‘Stronghold’ activated……you only receive 1 point of damage ]

[ You received an attack by a ‘???’ unknown creature. Attack has a possibility of malaria infection…..due to your accumulated immunity in this world, negative effects are resisted! ]

"...…"

“…..”

Sheyan exposed a sinister smirk, indeed it was so!

The offensive prowess of such a massive flock of flesh mosquitoes couldn’t have reached a lethal extent. Thus, it was primarily suppressed by his innate.

Following that, the negative effects of its virus held no precedence. As such, the bolstered immunity from killing those Greatmarsh Death Crocodiles back in the Kijuju Outer Reaches, was finally put to good use.

Evidently, Travice wasn’t anticipating Sheyan to charge straight into the fray, or that his body could negate the incredibly vile ravaging of the flesh mosquitoes. More crucially, as the flesh mosquitoes couldn’t bypass Sheyan’s defense, they were incapable of absorbing sufficient vitality from him!!

As a result, Travice became incapable of summoning other parasites to do battle!

Hence, Travice could only raise both arms mechanically and execute a reluctant blocking stance.

At this moment, Sheyan had finally pounced to his front. The manifold nibbling of those flesh mosquitoes had long triggered his ‘Zergling Rush’.

Three ferocious and consecutive blades came slashing down against Travice’s neck!

Those three blades managed to sever through half of Travice’s neck. Nevertheless, the damage dealt to this shriveled corpse couldn’t be considered immense. Still, adding on a final blade, he directly hacked deep into Travice’s spinal column!

The main parasite lodged in Travice’s body employs the spine to operate the mobility of the host. This was truly a grave blow to it.

Sheyan didn’t stop there. He then released an uppercut kick to Travice’s chest.

Kacha! Kacha! An unknown amount of ribs fractured, as Travice was smashed high up and finally crashed against a nearby wall; the immense impact cracked the stone wall behind, as rocks crumbled down.

By now, Sheyan was completely in an attacking frenzy, as he immediately chased up and hacked with his saber.

Travice endured another slash while the ravenous buzzing flesh mosquitoes continued ravaging Sheyan, but to no avail. Sheyan exploded forth with brutal ferocity once again as slashes of saber rained down.

At this instant, Travice revealed a murderous glint in his eyes, and unexpectedly shifted his left arm to block Sheyan’s incisive blade.

Kacha! Travice’s left arm was fractured and pierced out with bone. Despite so, his strength didn’t wane but this act had managed to parry Sheyan’s long saber.

Travice then abruptly swerved in his left arm; stabbing in with incomparable agility, he utilized his acute bone fracture to impale deep into Sheyan’s chest! Blood instantly gushed out from his chest, as Sheyan also coughed out a mouthful of blood.

Nevertheless, Sheyan’s character had been solidified in brute tenacity. He was long accustomed to trading blow for blow.

After receiving this stab, Sheyan gritted his teeth tightly in pain as he hacked down with his saber, once again cleaving against Travice’s neck.

Kacha! A stark destruction pierced out. Instead, Travice’s neck bone was utterly shattered through, directly delivering grave damages to the parasite hosted in Travice’s body. “This damage dealt to that old freak is absolutely not light!”

Meanwhile, Sheyan too wasn’t having a good time. After his chest got impaled by Travice, his left lung had ruptured as well as blood swiftly flooded into his lungs, subsequently triggering Sheyan to cough out blood and spittle!

Chapter 651: Desperate victory

If it was solely having his lungs punctured by Travice, that would be fine. Yet strangely, upon receiving that severe wound, Sheyan’s life essence was rapidly being sucked away by Travice.

Such an exuberant and vigorous vitality circulated into the famished and avaricious Travice, before swiftly channeling into the area of its wrecked spinal column.

Soon after, one could observe a rapid rejuvenation of flesh and blood there even with the naked eye, before tenaciously wrapping around Sheyan’s invading saber blade; resolutely resisting the cutting strength of his ‘+7 West’ saber.

Just when the situation was becoming extremely disadvantageous to Sheyan, his unflagging aggressive attempts finally triggered a passive ability, the special ability of his ‘Deformed Thickshell’ gloves – ‘Tidal Shock’.

[ During close combat with an enemy, there would be a chance of drawing in moisture in the air to unleash an attack. Damage (50 – 130 points) dealt would vary between different environment. Consecutively, an air bubble will form around the enemy, suffocating and reducing the enemy’s movement speed by 80% until the air bubble breaks. Air bubble HP equals to the damage dealt by ‘Tidal Shock’ !!! ]

When the special ability was triggered, the sound of a roaring ocean suddenly reverberated through the air; as though the waves were slapping against the beach.

Moisture content in the air raced towards Sheyan’s left hand, before morphing into an incredibly quick and violent tidal wave.

Shua! The tidal swept in and smashed Travice flying. Not only that, his body was now enclosed by a gigantic air bubble.

Travice reacted with relative peculiarity. As though inflicted with a fatal blow, he released a sorrowful wail. The appearance of his body was unexpectedly like it was corroded by sulfuric acid. Foul piercing black fumes permeated out his body, revealing multitudes of miniature cavities along his body. This ‘Tidal Shock’ attack had seemingly dealt an unimaginable magnitude of damage.

Panting heavily, Sheyan fled for his life as he executed a backward somersault. Supporting his body with his long saber, he clutched his punctured wound. In this moment, he was utterly baffled by what had happened, but also somewhat joyful.

Yet when he glanced at the air bubble encapsulating Travice, he noticed a mild glimmer of violet under the irradiation of the sunlight!

Sheyan finally understood. As it turns out, The essence of ‘Tidal Shock’ lies in absorbing the moisture content of the surrounding, before unleashing a wave against the enemy.

Hence, its killing potential would rise or fall in accordance with the environment. Naturally, the desert would be its weakest. As for this place, it was moist and humid.

Yet in reality, the main source of moisture came from the mild violet liquid flowing within the canal that encircled the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ flower terrace.

The same liquid that blatantly corroded Travice’s earlier parasites! One could tell how devastating the liquid acid was in suppressing Travice.

On paper, the damage of ‘Tidal Shock’ was not worth mentioning. Instead, it was the moisture content absorbed, that unleashed extraordinarily fatal toxins and naturally dealt astronomical damages to Travice.

After a series of rampaging swipes, Travice finally demolished the air bubble encapsulating him. Nevertheless, his current state was exceedingly pathetic. Even his head had been infected with that mild violet liquid, and several tiny holes had been corroded through. The largest hole, was one that corroded off a palm-sized chunk of his skull.

At this point, one could vividly spectate the cerebrum vein lines inside Travice’s skull. It was a large deathly pale blob that undulated incessantly; squirming with grotesque repulsiveness, as though it stored millions of fatty white worms.

In this instance, both parties had suffered grievous wounds and appeared as if they momentarily could not engage in battle.

In spite of that, ever since rampantly barging in here, Sheyan already adopted an evil audacity that could spear through all rivals!

Clutching his chest wound as he struggled to stand back up, his eyes flickered with matchless ferocity. Once again, he lifted ‘+7 West’ and speared towards that freak, and once again, viciously slashing it against Travice’s neck.

At the same time, Travice swung a fist at his chest, causing the left half of his chest to cave in.

Completely lacking in suspense, his slash decapitated Travice’s head.

Yet strangely, Sheyan realized there was a large number of arteries and veins, clustering like tapeworms still linking with Travice’s head. They were concentrated around Travice’s spine, and extended towards the rest of the body.

To his horror, these blood vessels were still automatically oozing and squirming. Shaded in cyan-black or prune, they painted a repugnant scene. Moreover, they appeared as though they wanted to rejoin the head back on.

Time and time again, grave blows plummeted Sheyan. Despite so, Sheyan had utterly sealed off all his emotions and feeling, forcibly repressing all pain or negative emotions. What remained, was a blood reeking callousness to butcher cruelly. The pain only served to heighten the ruthless savageness in his blood lusted eyes!

“Die, you washed out abomination!”

Sheyan stomped down heavily on Travice’s head, immediately feeling as though Travice’s rotten skull had shattered and disintegrated like a thin walnut shell. Following that, he exerted more strength into his leg, feeling as though he was stamping down and crushing a piece of tofu.

Sheyan then handily sliced his blade across, instantly severing a handful of blood vessels linking to Travice’s neck.

Travice’s fanatical wrestling intensified in response to such a fatal threat, as a mournful screech drifted out from his thoracic cavity.

Completely out of the blue, Travice’s right leg abruptly disjointed weirdly before swinging in with tremendous force, as he kicked Sheyan stumbling backward. Of course, bones splintered at the disjointed area, as blood and a maroon mangled paste spewed out!!

Sheyan tottered backward as he glanced towards the Sun Altar.

The leaf blades and vine of the enraged ‘Stairway of the Sun’ was still braced like an infuriated wild beast. Evidently, directly retrieving its liquid sap to deal with Travice would not be wise.

As such, Sheyan could only continue brawling like a cornered beast, and lure Travice in while stumbling into retreat.

By now, Travice’s condition wasn’t that much better than Sheyan’s. His head was a mangled mess while nearly half the blood vessels connecting to it had been severed. Lymphatic fluids, blood, and bodily tissue repeatedly spurted out, as his head dangled aghast from his neck; his body violently convulsing at random intervals.

All of a sudden, he released a sharp roar as his mouth widened to its extremity once again. From within, a gush of disgustingly horrifying parasites slushed out. Apart from those parasites he saw before, there were even giant stout maggots, tiny parasitic beast with a canine body and a strange quintuplet clover head, and large hookworms….

If those parasites were to touch Sheyan, he would probably be reduced into a puddle of blood in an instant. No, his blood wouldn’t even be spared. At most, only his would remain.

However, Sheyan also noticed that when Travice shot forth those parasites, his own body had collapsed and was dissolving away. Ash-grey speckles then appeared on the surfaces of those parasites, and though they continued pressing towards Sheyan, they had lost their initial agility. Right now, they appeared rigid like robots.

When Travice utterly dissolved, those parasites became completely motionless. Like black volcanic rock sculptures, they finally crumbled to the ground as ashes.

Coldly witnessing everything from nearby, Sheyan could perceive this sequence of events.

Travice was ultimately still a wild beast controlled by an insatiable appetite. Undoubtedly, most of his human intellect was eternally erased.

After receiving grave injuries from Sheyan, his destroyed brain nerves and primal parasitic instincts could sorely feel the threat to his life. As such, the overwhelming circumstance finally activated his final defense mechanism; unleashing his full force of parasite army in a last-ditch attempt.

Except, mobilizing those parasites required a definite amount of life essence. Trapped in hibernated dormancy for centuries, its life essence had inevitably plunged to rock bottom. Regardless of the amount of blood drawn from Sheyan, summoning all such a full force of parasites would only lead to one simple outcome – his body being unable to bear it and thoroughly crumbled….

Moreover, Sheyan was also finally enlightened on one thing. So far till now, he could confirm the various mature biohazard mutations were related to the ‘Stairway of the Sun’.

Nevertheless, Sheyan could currently determine these biohazard freaks were classified into two distinct categories.

The first was the monsters born from personal genetic mutation, where the typical model was those Lickers. While the second, are parasites that had gained control of a body, those Plaga Type Hosts!

Most crucially, Sheyan also noted that out of all the Plaga Hosts he encountered, they were all European foreigners!

He then related this to the dying words of Dias – ‘A pity, true pity……us foreigners are different from these aborigines. Our bodies, and this power they seek!!’

From all these, Sheyan finally resolved another riddle in his heart.

“What is the difference between the Ndipaya aborigines and the Europeans then? This difference has been clearly pointed out! It resides in the ‘body’!”

“The African black males have bigger muscle densities than European whites…the black male possesses more stamina….the black males aren’t good at swimming…..those are all aspects I’ve envisaged but eventually dismissed!”

Chapter 652: Parasite origins

Actually, Sheyan been instantly enlightened after beholding the parasitic assaults from Travice.

“Ah, Most likely, the bodies of these Caucasians who voyaged from afar, carried parasite worms unique to Europe!”

“The climate and environment of Europe and Africa differ greatly. This inevitably leads to the breeding of different organisms. Parasites found in Europeans would probably not be found in Africans or vice versa. Or perhaps due to the eating customs of the Ndipaya aborigines, whose diet comprises mostly of herbs, fruits, and vegetation, parasite worms wouldn’t exist in their guts or bodies. Therefore, after consuming the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, the terrifying powers of would directly translate into their bodies; causing them to lose control and morph into existences such as the Lickers.”

“As for the Europeans who voyaged here in search of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’. The terrifying powers were possibly shared with parasites living in their bodies; such as roundworms, hookworms, tapeworms and others….thereby metamorphosing into new organisms. Those were the parasite monopolized Plaga Hosts that I faced!”

Of course, Bernard Fokke must’ve met with a fortuitous encounter that year, allowing him to succeed and escape such a tragic misfortune. Eventually, he managed to decipher this miracle and recorded it inside his journal before handing down to his descendants.

Little Lord Fokke then mimicked his ancestor’s experience, and possibly even improved on it, which was how he transformed into such a frightening existence. Moreover, Sheyan didn’t observe any indication of parasites on Little Lord Fokke’s body.

As for why Travice exhibited an entirely different array of parasitic mutations, Sheyan could only surmise it as him contracting a terminal illness. One could imagine the parasites in his body amidst the different medicines and viruses within.

As for how this unfortunate brat landed himself in prison. Sheyan reckoned it was punishment by the Ndipaya people.

Firstly, the Ndipaya natives definitely had adequate confidence in eliminating Plaga Hosts such as him, probably due to the liquid sap of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ being able to stifle them. Secondly, they condemned him to eternal torture, forcing him to guard this sacred Sun Garden as the price for profaning their sacred ground.

After Sheyan eliminated Travice, his luck went down the drain, as was apparent from the key loot acquired. Besides, the nightmare realm had already notified him of rewards not matching risks in this barren ghost land in the first place. Hence, he only earned 10,000 utility points and merely obtained a single item.

[ Holy Nightshade Dosage ]

[ Type: Medicine ]

[ Description: Before the eighteenth century, this medicine was utilized widely for various reasons. Women dripped it into their eyes to enlarge their pupils. Sick patients used it to numb away their pains. Assassins employed it as a lethal toxin. Vets used it to induce vomiting in poultry to contend against pestilences….. ]

[ Effects: Numbs away your pain upon consumption but damage dealt by opponents increases by 10%. Duration of 10 seconds. Also, it is infused with holy water, and the divine power may heal diseases or regrow limbs ]

[ Summary: Indeed, it was this medicine that sustained Travice in his voyage to the continent of Africa. It was concocted personally by Cardinal Domingo of France. To acquire this, Travice paid the price of 700 gold guineas. Only one concern remains – is it still effective after several centuries? ]

Although this item disappointed Sheyan, he still obtained bonus notifications from killing a notable storyline character, a Boss Plaga Host. He received 1 achievement point and 2 free attribute points, which counted as a consolation prize.

Although this ‘Holy Nightshade Dosage’ seemed rather unreliable, Sheyan was astonished to discover it could be sold for a considerable 20,000 utility points. Therefore, upon contemplating the plausible description of healing diseases and regrowing limbs, Sheyan very bluntly drank it.

Nevertheless, he had to admit it tasted queer and disgusting. A taste akin to piping hot feet-washing water combined with salt.

A brief while after drinking it, Sheyan suddenly sensed the sunlight ambiance congregating towards his severed arm….which was followed by a tingling itch at the wound, before the sunlight slowly grew into an arm. At this moment, he could hear the chorus of a barely audible hymn.

Leveraging on the time required to heal his severed limb, Sheyan casually loitered into Travice’s prison cell. Sadly, there was nothing to gain, merely a 5-6 square meters solitary cell filled with dust and moist.

Besides, Travice was an ancient archaic figure, who couldn’t be compared to those brats traveling alongside Little Lord Fokke. After the passage of centuries, all his possessions had probably rusted and decomposed into dust.

While Sheyan was still examining the place, a sonorous boom resounded from outside! Instantaneously, tremors shook the cavern walls as rock fragments and dust crumbled down; it was as though a violent earthquake was occurring.

Sheyan instantly panicked. “Damned! What shitty luck If I were to be buried alive here!”

Logically speaking, Sheyan had attained his objective and could return to the nightmare realm already. However, his heart was still plagued by many riddles.

For example, the enigma of Mbenga’s identity; what exactly happened to him years ago? Also, the miracles of Bernard Fokke and the mysterious metamorphosis of the demon horse, Momore. Lastly, what caused the decline and fall of the Ndipaya Tribe…..

Most crucially, lessons from the bloody travesty of past were still vivid in his mind. The outcome of directly consuming the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ would be either degenerating into a Licker, or becoming another edition of Travice if his body housed parasite worms…

Sheyan didn’t wish to mutate into such diabolical creatures. This pertained to his personal interest and benefits. Therefore, Sheyan planned to stay for a longer period. At least, he would try his utmost to solve this vital problem.

After recovering to his optimum state, Sheyan headed for another glance at the ‘Stairway of the Sun’. Instead, just glancing at him dawned an unrivaled intensity of deadliness. Evidently, approaching it once again would end his life.

Sheyan no longer had the interest to challenge it and returned to the entry point of this sealed cavern. After following the method Mbenga had detailed to him earlier, he activated the mechanism for this ‘elevator’.

Soon after, this primitive ‘elevator’ descended. At this very instant, an incomparably thick blood odor pervaded his nostrils.

Sheyan immediately drew his saber and bent forward, preparing to block his front with his weapon.

To his astonishment, when the stone platform descended, 7 sprawled corpses laid atop it!

The corpses had the attire of the Ndipaya Kingdom Guardians. Their faces were tattooed with a coiled serpent. Some had pikes and javelins in their hands, while others had a bow slung to their backs. A puddle of dark crimson blood-soaked beneath them.

As Sheyan beheld this sight, he unexpectedly noticed a hairless dog, with the physique of a young calf, who was wagging its tail and licking up the sullied blood. On its back, was the brand of a sun. Upon seeing Sheyan, it instantly lunged viciously towards him.

When lounging in midair, this large dog enlarged its mouth, which transformed into massive blood devouring jaws; razor-sharp canine fangs polluted within. However, this biohazard dog had already suffered serious wounds beforehand. As a result, Sheyan easily chopped it down with his blade. After several consecutive slashes, he dissected the head of this massive dog; successfully slaying it.

Actually, after entering this ‘Resident Evil, Origins’ world, Sheyan was graced with numerous opportunities to initiate milestones. The highest class was actually to hunt that enormous Blood Boss Licker……which would offer a rewarding title of the rare Silver Class. Obviously, Sheyan very straightforwardly rejected it; who was he kidding!

Yet at this instance of killing off a mutated evil dog, he unexpectedly initiated another milestone. The milestone entailed him to slay 6 different kinds of biohazard mutated creatures.

At present, Sheyan had already completed 5 – this biohazard dog, Plaga Host, Licker, Deathmarsh Great Crocodile and the Mutated Arachnidacrab. After careful contemplations over his situation, Sheyan selected to accept the initiation. This was because he roughly recalled seeing decomposing ravens back in the outer reaches of the Kijuju Marshland. As such, he should be able to add them to his list.

While pondering over this milestone, a bitter scream drifted in from above. Following that, a body tumbled down from above, carrying in splashes of fresh blood.

Sheyan immediately leaped backward. After that body landed on the heap of corpses, half his body jolted back up, before crashing down again; resembling a bloody devil breathing its final gasp.

His wrist seemed to have been gnawed by a ferocious beast, as blood-drenched the exposure of his eerie white bone joint. Prune colored bruises could also be seen. Claw and chomp marks revealed that the biohazard dog was the culprit

Sheyan prudently crept in and discovered he was also a Ndipaya Kingdom Guardian. From his feeble breathing, he could barely tell this person was still alive. Sheyan carefully pulled aside a corpse that was pressing onto this victim. He worried that any excessive tremors could abruptly snuff out the flames of this dying candle.

This Ndipaya Kingdom Guardian appeared to be roughly forty years old. The shade of his eyes was deathly grey, and speckles of bloodstains riddled his naked chest.

Sheyan desired to scout out the affair above from his mouth. Thus, he poured several mouthfuls of water for him, and kneaded his temples a little. After doing his utmost to rescue him, he still remained motionless like a dead person. If not for the faint undulation of his chest, Sheyan would’ve given up already.

Right when Sheyan was about to lose hope, this person suddenly sprang up! His action was so abrupt, droplets of blood sprayed against Sheyan’s face. Then, he tried his best to raise his weapon and shouted in a hoarse voice.

“Guarba!”

Chapter 653: Another truth

The sudden outburst from this Ndipaya Kingdom Guardian startled Sheyan. Already bracing himself with stern vigilance, Sheyan instantly swung a punch across!

Already gravely wounded like a dimly flickering lamp, that Ndipaya Kingdom Guardian was directly killed by the pounding fist.

Upon witnessing such a desperate scene, Sheyan couldn’t help but feel waves of shock in his heart. At once, he slowly climbed up this sliding stone platform.

During his ascension, Sheyan subconsciously arched his body like a short distance sprinter, thereby reducing his area guard against any attack. Moreover, he could also spear foes at first notice…..or escape. Nevertheless, with the current aspect, Sheyan reckoned the probability of him escaping would be slightly more.

As the stone platform gradually approached the world above, Sheyan could already hear a chaotic ruckus of slaughtering breaking out amidst the bonfire plaza above. Just from listening to that, he could perceive a disorderly uproar of close combat clashes above.

Sheyan’s pupils instantly shifted as he quickly hauled two corpses to cover his front, and dipped his head entirely in blood. Following that, he ingeniously draped himself amongst the pile of sprawling corpses.

Such a conduct was undoubtedly shameless but provided splendid concealment. Within a battle of chaotic upheaval, he wouldn’t be discriminated from an ordinary corpse.

The stone platform trembled slightly as he halted atop this bonfire plaza. Sheyan could faintly hear the mechanism beneath locking up rigidly. Evidently, to enter the Sun Garden again, one must wait till the first sunlight of dawn to initiate both statues to initiate this trapdoor. Without a doubt, it signified that Sheyan’s retreating route was cut off.

The terrain of this bonfire plaza mimicked a colossal sized frying pan; with elevated periphery while the central interior was leveled shorter.

Sweeping his gaze through the plaza, Sheyan could observe that those Ndipaya Kingdom Guardians, had shockingly segregated into two distinct factions, and were locked in mutual carnage!

The first faction hosted many Kingdom Guardian. They employed pikes, javelins, bows, and arrows, and their faces were all tattooed with the exact coiled serpent. They were furiously bellowing with their vague aborigine language, and Sheyan could faintly tell, they were shielding a blood-drenched Mbenga within.

As for the other Ndipaya Kingdom Guardian faction, they wielded heavy weapons like spiked clubs, maces and dual-handed warhammers. Though this faction hosted lesser Guardian Defenders, their faces were tattooed with a sun emblem.

A few sinister looking biohazard dogs circled around them, and not only that, behind them were 3-5 shamans adorned with gigantic face masks – the Ndipaya Elders.

Like the stars cupping themselves around the moon, standing in the middle of those Ndipaya Elders was a bald male with an unrivaled robust physique. His thick and solid muscles were practically modeled after the god of war, Kratos.

Apart from a sleeveless lion pelt coat covering his right shoulder, his upper body was stark naked and revealed his overbearing muscles. Grasped in his hand was a golden scepter.

Bathing under the sunlight, the impression this bald male emanated was that of an enormous maelstrom; a strength that incessant expands and whirls, while vehemently devouring all in its path!

Upon seeing this individual, without needing any introduction, Sheyan knew he was undoubtedly Mbenga’s nemesis. The nemesis he had never forgotten – Guarba!

At this precise moment, Mbenga buried his head and stampeded towards that bald male with a raging howl.

Yet the strangest thing happened. Two Ndipaya Kingdom Guardians surrounding and protecting him actually moved in to intercept Mbenga. Nevertheless, Sheyan could tell those Guardians held propriety in their actions, not possessing a single intent of harming Mbenga.

Only, it seemed like Mbenga’s powers had experienced yet another growth! Wielding a pike, he speedily thrust it into the chests of the two Guardians! After sending them flying effortlessly, Mbenga dragged a huge trail of blood as he roared ruthlessly and charged towards Guarba.

Mbenga’s murderous charge appeared like an incomparably desperate struggle for life. Without a doubt, if he could get near Guarba, Mbenga would become like a barbaric maniac; attacking with even teeth and fingernails, desiring to end this in mutual destruction!

However, Mbenga was utterly incapable of approaching Guarba.

Those Ndipaya Kingdom Guardians around Guarba were incredibly valiant. Their herculean and brutish stature seemingly suggested even their brains were made with muscles. One could only describe them as a steel wall. When some postured enormous wooden shields ahead, they essentially resembled an impregnable fortress.

Sheyan estimated that the might of those Guardians couldn’t be broken through with the likes of contestants, or even Reserve-duty Growth-hunters.

Citing an example, if this line of Kingdom Guardians went up against the beast horde of the Avatar World, unless Nature goddess Eywa mobilized Thanator Riders or even Great Leonopteryx Riders, it would be impossible to thwart their defenses.

As such, nature took its course and Mbenga was bluntly struck back. Fortunately, he didn’t receive any fatal injuries. This wasn’t due to him possessing the luck of a main character, but because……in order to protect him, those coiled-serpent tattooed Ndipaya Kingdom Guardians had also attacked simultaneously.

Javelins were hurled out, alongside the tensioning and firing of desolating poisoned arrows. It practically resembled an invading tropical storm; abrupt, frenzied and flooding in!

Sheyan spectated this scene with twinkling eyes.

Prior to this, he had already speculated the Ndipaya tribesmen most probably had old rivals, who were exceptionally adept at long-range assaults. Therefore, it explained why their equipments possessed properties that were exceedingly resistant to far range assaults.

Nevertheless, Sheyan had missed out something previously. There was absolutely no way he would’ve considered this.

That so-called ‘greatest rival’ was actually heralded by inner dissent!

The formidable Qin dynasty subjugated the seven kingdoms, yet was destroyed by the hands of Zhao Gao. Han Dynasty concluded in the hands of Cao Pi, but the Kingdom of Wei fell to its own minister Sima Shi. Li Jiancheng’s greatest rival wasn’t the Göktürks or Wang Shichong, but his own brother Li Shimin….

(TL: *Zhao Gao is one of the vilest, corrupt and powerful eunuchs in Chinese history, responsible for the fall of Qin Dynasty. Cao Pi is the first monarch of the Wei empire after the Han Dynasty ended, and Sima Shi is a powerful minister of the Wei empire. Li jiancheng is the eldest son of the first Tang Dynasty emperor)

When the Ndipaya Kingdom collapsed, once the pressure from foreign opponents slackened, there would bound to be a contest for power and dominion. Furthermore, the combat style, tactics, and allegiance of both factions differed greatly! As a result, both subtribes, the Coiled Serpent and the Sun faction, would naturally view each other as enemies and butcher each other.

“Therefore, when did both factions become united?” Sheyan inferred secretly.

“Clearly, an unknown crisis led to both factions allying together! When their grandest village at the inner misty reaches had been breached. At the vital juncture that concerned the continuity of their Ndipaya Tribe, they definitely unified against the enemy.”

Amidst the torrential rain of arrows, Mbenga still managed to make a full retreat. Though that was so, a Ndipaya Elder had locked onto him and unleashed his malicious parasitic blowdart!

But right at this instant, a pikeman of the Coiled Serpent subtribe dove in and blocked Mbenga’s front; using his back to bear the deadly brunt of the parasitic blowdart.

Yet consecutively after, the most jaw-dropping event occurred. Mbenga unexpectedly thrust his pike, drilling a hole into the throat of the Guardian that had just shielded and rescued him. Then, Mbenga flung him aside as though he was mere garbage.

Then, Mbenga viciously retracted his pike and retreated backward while panting heavily.

On the contrary, that Coiled Serpent Ndipaya Kingdom Guardian harbored no desire for vengeance. Instead, his actions were amazingly shocking. He scrambled back and shrunk back into their defense circle, as he continued protecting the bloodlusted Mbenga.

Sheyan’s pupils instantaneously contracted. “Was that the simple, forthright and kind Mbenga who loved to grin foolishly while scratching his head?”

Sheyan subconsciously muttered to himself.

“Could it be……could it be truth is that! Eliminating all impossibilities, granted that no matter how far-fetched the remaining verdict is, it is the most probable truth!”

All of a sudden, both opposing factions abruptly revealed a frantic and clamorous demeanor. They unanimously glanced towards the mountain range surrounding this city of ruins, the mountain range filled with complex, honeycomb-like tunnels.

Yet at this moment, the exits of those tunnels were shockingly polluted with thick, blood-red smoke!

Although Sheyan understood very little of the Ndipaya Tribe customs, he could infer the significance of the emitted blood-red smoke.

Undoubtedly, they only signified one thing – A warning sign!

An exceedingly critical warning sign!

Very evidently, the biohazard mutated abominations of the misty inner reaches had been stirred by a certain unknown abnormality, and were starting to besiege the last remaining stronghold of the Ndipaya Tribe.

To the Ndipaya Tribe who had fallen into an impasse of no retreat, if their final line of defense crumbled today, it would undoubtedly spell the fate of tribe extermination.

Both parties were momentarily stupefied, but at this instant, the herculean Guarba stomped out. Raising his golden scepter, he roared at the Coiled Serpent subtribe.

“Do you wish to see the demise of our glorious Ndipaya Kingdom??? Do you want the bloodline of our ancestors to flow dry??!”

Obviously, though the Coiled Serpent subtribe boasted of greater numbers, they didn’t possess a figurehead character like Guarba. Falling behind in terms of imposing grandeur, they whispered into each other’s ears before two elders stepped forward.

Then they resentfully exclaimed.

“Of course not! Guarba, we simply wish to protect the last bloodline of the Bayin clan.”

Chapter 654: Mbenga’s bitter fate

Guarga heavily drilled his golden scepter into the ground.

With an awe-inspiring presence and unrivaled loftiness, he gripped the attention of the entire field. Right in the face of the Coiled Serpent subtribe, his voice thoroughly suppressed them.

“Gundazan is already possessed by a demon. The obsession of that evil spirit is inconceivably strong, and has been enhanced by the witchcraft of our enemy. Only by killing me, can all grievances be resolved! Attempting to spit at the sky will only humiliate yourselves. Fools that wishes to go against me, shall be reduced to dust by the scorching sun. Your act of protecting him is simply digging your own graves!”

The two elders of the Coiled Serpent subtribe exchanged glances. Clearly, they understood the truth in Guarba’s words, still, they remained unwilling.

“Bearing such immense trust from the old Gundazan, we swore to protect his son from the depths of our soul before he died. To uphold the final bloodline of the Bayin Clan! How can we betray our oaths?”

Guarba laughed hysterically in response, before contemptuously chiding.

“Your Gundazan was an utter trash! He even lost the sacred artifact of the Coiled Serpent subtribe. How dare he claim to be the final bloodline of the Bayin Clan!?! He should be claiming the biggest responsibility of our Ndipaya kingdom’s decline! Death merely freed him of that. Just look at your latest leader, he can’t even defend against an invasion of that evil spirit, yet you dare talk about leading your tribe to glory?”

The two elders revealed an indignant countenance as they rebutted.

“Guarba, you have the cheeks to bring up what happened? Those invaders dare covet the divine powers of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, naturally, they deserved to be eaten by us. But eating them is fine, there was no need for torturing them with such ruthless and cruel methods right?”

“If they hadn’t been forced to such despairs, the shattering of souls would’ve have invoked such a bitter curse! If your divine powers are that formidable, why did you flee in the face of that soul-shattering curse that year? If you hadn’t ran like a cowardly rat, would our Gundazan have been mistakenly inflicted by that terrifying curse of a hundred grieving assembly?”

Guarba’s expression instantly changed, as he lifted his golden scepter and heftily smashed it into the ground again. Rocks dispersed under his impressive might.

Then, Guarba ingeniously changed the topic and exclaimed.

“Just look at the current crisis! The Sun god is testing our faith once again. I will send the forces of my Sun subtribe to reinforce the defense, only I shall remain in this Flame Plaza. You two old farts and your Gundazan can remain here. Get the rest to scram and guard the sacred mountain! Today, the four of us shall settle the matters of past once and for all!!

The two elders immediately glanced at each other with indecisive hesitation. Instead, Guarba fumed out.

“Only by killing me, can you dissipate the grievances of the entrenching evil spirit in your Gundazan. Only then can he fully recover! Leaving myself to battle the three of you, are you perhaps afraid? When did the courage of us grand offsprings of Ndipaya, degrade to the extent of a lizard of the wetlands?”

Listening till here, yet another one of Sheyan’s riddles was finally resolved…..

As it turns out, the Mbenga he had been getting along with all day and night, was actually a so-called ‘evil spirit’! His true identity was one that could stand on equal footing with Guarba, the chieftain of the Coiled Serpent subtribe – Gundazan!

No wonder Mbenga could grasp the secrets of the Ndipaya Tribe like the back of his hand. He was even aware of the various snare mechanisms, the hidden treasures, and even the pathway to acquire their greatest secret – the ‘Stairway of the Sun’.

As the Gundazan who could stand on equal footing with Guarba, who was clearly the high priest, if he didn’t know about these mysteries, no one else would be qualified to.

From this, Sheyan could further deduce. Those Ndipaya barbarians of the Kijuju Outer Reaches, were very possibly descendants of the remnant citizens after the destruction of the Ndipaya Kingdom!

“The truth of that year is most likely this.”

“This happened many years ago, when an old chief of the village at Port Qom contracted a disease. In order to cure his father’s disease, Aram seized the opportunity when the subtribes of the Ndipaya Tribe, the Coiled Serpent subtribe and the Sun subtribe, were fighting internally and attempted to harvest the powers of immortality from the ‘Stairway of the Sun’.”

(TL recap: Aram is the current chief at Port Qom)

“An unfortunate mishap struck in the end, and the result was the complete annihilation of Aram’s forces. During that year, Mbenga had personally witnessed his kin being mercilessly and cruelly tortured to death. Thus, at the expense of all else, he and the remaining hundred captives, had activated a desperate soul-shattering curse. In the end, the crafty Guarba managed to escape. Instead, the curse was befallen unto the next inheritor of the Coiled Serpent subtribe, the young Gundazan.”

“This so-called ‘soul-shattering curse’ in current context, should be employing an unknown power to forcibly split the consciousness of a target, causing a secondary persona to emerge in his sea of consciousness! That secondary persona, along with a hundred grieving souls, then suppressed the primary persona deep within the Gundazan’s sea of consciousness. As for this secondary persona, it inherited the memories and thoughts of the curse caster.”

“If the soul-shattering curse had successfully struck Guarba then, Mbenga would’ve undoubtedly chosen to perish with Guarba; turning him into an idiot. Instead, when the secondary persona, Mbenga, infiltrated into the young Gundazan’s body, he was unable to perish because the oath of grievances was sworn to slay Guarba. On the contrary, the Coiled Serpent subtribe now had to protect Gundazan’s body, thus allowing Aram and ‘Mbenga’ to successfully escape.”

“However, it seems that Aram did in fact, managed to profit. Looks like he had stolen the sacred artifact of the Coiled Serpent subtribe. Maybe, that artifact is the main reason for the biohazard outbreak in the entire core inner reaches of the Ndipaya tribe!

“But why didn’t the Coiled Serpent subtribe mount a campaign to retrieve Mbenga?”

Sheyan immediately understood. This had to be considered in the perspective of one’s character and ambition.

“When the tribe’s sacred artifact had been stolen, it ultimately led to the old Gundazan chieftain of the Coiled Serpent subtribe dying from shame, and the blow of the next Gundazan turning deranged, or rather, being possessed by an evil spirit. Therefore, I can inevitably deduce, like a headless dragon, the Coiled Serpent subtribe fell into chaotic confusion!”

“That became the golden opportunity for the Sun subtribe’s ambitious Guarba to annex the Coiled Serpent tribe!!”

“Plagued by mutual hostilities for a thousand years, Guarba naturally understood that if the Coiled Serpent subtribe, the faction adept in far range combat, pledged allegiance to him, how mighty that alliance would’ve been! Probably, he thought they could’ve reinstated the glory of the ancient Ndipaya Kingdom. As such, Guarba must’ve tried his best to prevent the chaotic Coiled Serpent subtribe to rescue their Gundazan.”

“Moreover, after the evil consequence of losing their sacred artifact became prominent, when biohazardous creatures proliferated the place, the Coiled Serpent subtribe couldn’t even fend for themselves anymore. Even the contact with those Ndipaya tribesmen at the Kijuju outer reaches had been severed. No wonder saving the young Gundazan became an impossibility.”

“It is no wonder Mbenga could willfully massacre the Ndipaya Kingdom Guardians back in the tunnels of the sacred mountain range. The other party didn’t even dare to resist him!”

“Refraining from shooting at the rat for the fear of breaking the vases. The Coiled Serpent tribesmen are afraid of harming their own leader. They believe that one day, their Gundazan will come back and lead them once again.”

Presented with Guarba’s solution, the two Coiled Serpent tribe elders continued hesitating. Instead, Guarba commanded loudly.

“Warriors of my Sun tribe, return to the sacred mountain tunnels at once to withstand those demons. This is a test of the sun god. Only by enduring, shall the brilliant rays of the scorching sun bathe our bodies and the Ndipaya Kingdom shall rise again! You of the Coiled Serpent Tribe are equally sons of the Ndipaya Kingdom, this is the time we stand against our demons!”

Following Guarba’s command, though the Sun subtribe guardians remained extremely concerned about the high priest, they still retreated immediately.

At this instant, Sheyan was widely praising the incomparably sly Guarba.

After taking such a magnanimous and lofty stance, how would the Coiled Serpent tribe warriors stand up to him? After all, worshipping the strong is an inherent nature of humans. Moreover, they were also worried about the crisis at their sacred mountain. Regardless of all, even if the Coiled Serpent warriors remained here, they would be devoid of all will to fight.

Once again, Guarba roared sonorously.

“Thiago, Hecaosi! You are loyal priests of Gundazan, but, do you wish for your brave Coiled Serpent warriors to perish in vain? Where are your guts? Are you truly afraid of battling me?”

With all his words, the two elder priests had no choice but to take up the challenge. Otherwise, it would be them agreeing with Guarba’s words, which translated to treating their own warriors as cannon fodder.

With downcast countenances, they ordered their tribe to withdraw and return to guard the sacred mountain.

Those Coiled Serpent Warriors had been evidently stirred by Guarba. After offering formalities to the two elders and the blood-soaked fiend, Mbenga, they hastily withdrew.

Several minutes later, only five individuals remained in this vast bonfire plaza.

Mbenga, the two Coiled Serpent subtribe elders, Thiago and Hecaosi, and Guarba.

Of course, don’t forget Sheyan who was feigning death.

The sun rays beamed onto the bodies of the four individuals atop this bonfire plaza. However, only a terribly fatal chilliness could be felt in the air.

Soon after, following the reinforcements of the elite warriors, the crisis at the distant sacred mountain was swiftly alleviated. One after another, those thick blood red smoke emitting from the tunnel exits were sealed up; indicating their hold of the situation.

Evidently, those biohazard abominations failed to obtain any benefits within the labyrinth of tunnels, and were successively slaughtered.

Chapter 655: Colliding schemes

Guarba steadily kept his golden scepter upright on the ground. The muscles and blood vessels in his arms swelled like tiny cyan serpents. From head to toe, his vigor flushed towards his scepter.

Kapa! Kapa! Atop this bonfire plaza, clamorous crackling sounds erupted as rock fragments gusted around sporadically.

To Sheyan’s astonishment, a shallow crevice had formed before Guarba; as though it was a curving grain long engraved on this ground. The maroon blood of the heap of Guardian corpses nearby flowed slowly through that crevice.

Soon after, more of such indistinct tiny crevices crisscrossed, and unexpectedly formed into a circular radius of 100 plus meters on this bonfire plaza; an astronomical yet furtive design. If one surveyed this design from a high altitude, one could observe this was a scorching sun with a beard, that was currently insatiably devouring the bleeding corpses. The maroon blood coursed unceasingly through the crevices of this circular design, projecting an unspeakable oddity and brutality.

“Illuminate this earth, O sun god of the 790th age. May you bare your scorching fangs! I, your descendant, offer up this sacrificial abundance in reverence!”

While Guarba was casting his shaman magic, Mbenga and the two Coiled Serpent tribe elders, Thiago and Hecaosi, immediately launched their ferocious assaults.

In response, Guarba unleashed a blasting heat wave with a wave of his hand; easily blowing the incoming arrows and javelins away!

Within a split second, as the blood of the deceased continued flowing through the crevices, the two serpent-headed statues once again slithered out with a boom. The convex mirrors of the statues were dyed in blood, as those blinding focused sunbeams lasered out again.

Yet this time, those sunbeams carried a shade of sorrowful blood red, as they swept in and effortlessly forced Mbenga and the two elders in retreat; forced into a corner of the plaza.

At this moment, Guarba sauntered with large strides towards the center of the bonfire plaza, before regurgitating huge mouthfuls of fresh blood.

When his blood landed on the ground, they congealed into blood globes and rapidly shot out in all directions.

Soon after, those dead corpses began crawling back up. Such a sinister and horrifying sight left one utterly shivering in fear. Fortunately, the dead weren’t in a rush to attack, but instead, congregated and unexpectedly started hugging each other.

The reanimated corpses displayed extremely substantial strength, that even Sheyan could hear the sounds of bones fracturing!

Proceeding onwards, their bodies abrupt distorted and like candles, melted and condensed into each other. From a distance, the sunbeams of the serpent-headed statue lasered onto their bodies, exactly like the process of electric welding.

Eventually, the corpses morphed into a terrifying creature of a bloody scarlet luster. Its appearance resembled that of a flayed massive orangutan Moreover, its body and arms were reinforced with an exterior armor of rib bones, that formed into ghastly bone scythes! The deterrence this creature emanated was actually even deadlier than a regular Licker, most probably, it could last for a long time against that humongous Boss Licker.

At this instant, Sheyan finally understood why Guarba had been so righteously generous, offering to be disadvantaged in a 1 vs 3 battle.

As it turns out, the corpses here were his mightiest assistants; be it Coiled Serpent tribe warriors of Sun tribe warriors!

As Mbenga glared at Guarba, the hatred and torment in his eyes intensified manifold. With a raging howl, he gripped his pike and speared forward.

By now, he was seemingly already demonstrating the fullest potential of his host body, which was the Coiled Serpent tribe’s chieftain, Gundazan. One must understand, the Gundazans had always led their tribe to contend against the Sun tribe for a millennium, one could simply imagine his formidability.

Sadly, Mbenga didn’t inherit the body owner’s persona, which was the only way that allows him to go into mutual destruction. Since that was so, he only suppressed the owner’s persona to the maximum. But now that the body was regaining its might, it only indicated one thing – Mbenga had to relinquish more control to the body’s main persona, allowing him more authority over his body!

Without a doubt, the price for this would be directly burning the soul force of the secondary persona. Most likely after this battle, that persona would extinguish.

Right now, Guarba was experiencing the repercussions of casting such a powerful shaman magic. Nevertheless, the zombie beast he had summoned was gigantic and even possessed frightening agility.

If not for the two elders combining their strength at the expense of themselves, Mbenga would’ve long been reduced into a dissected corpse.

This battle was exceedingly strange. Mbenga and the elders inflicted damages to the zombie beast, yet whenever the zombie beast approached any loose corpse, it would immediately pick it up and paste it into its body. Within a flash, the zombie beast would assimilate its flesh and blood, morphing it into a terrifying portion of its beastly body.

Threatened by this perilous beast, Mbenga and the elders demonstrated matchless ruthlessness. They were like lively dragons and animated tigers, not revealing a hint of fatigue.

With an ashen complexion, Mbenga stabbed his pike in repeatedly as most landed on nothing. Even if he successfully landed a hit, he merely drew mini splashes of fishy blood; completely unable to deliver grave wounds to this zombie beast.

With his life hanging by a thread, Mbenga’s face constricted with vicious currents as he continued unleashing a flood of jabs.

All of a sudden, amidst his raging howls, his pike finally managed to drill deep into the chest of the zombie beast. Then, twisting it mightily, blood erupted profusely before his pike exploded through the back of this zombie beast.

Mutilated flesh and blood poured down like rain amidst the ludicrous roars. The upper half of this zombie beast had been destroyed. In spite of that, the zombie beast swung in its left arm, as 5 ghastly white scythes sliced down onto Mbenga’s head with lethal incisiveness.

At this precise moment, Elder Thiago darted high above Mbenga with his pike. The next instance, he released a blood-curdling scream, as his right leg was dismembered by the zombie beast’s claws!

Yet instantly after, Mbenga, with eyes brimming with murderous bloodlust, thrust in another pike and drilled into the elder’s abdomen!!!

Bear this in mind, Mbenga absolutely hated the Ndipaya aborigines. His mental condition was truly and abnormally morbid. In his perspective, though it was Guarba who mercilessly butchered most of his tribesmen, the hands of other Ndipaya members were similarly drenched in blood; cannibalizing his tribesmen. If he was presented with the opportunity to slay one, he definitely wouldn’t relent.

After killing Elder Thiago, Mbenga prepared to lunge forward again. Yet suddenly, his body turned limped as he staggered backward, before gasping for breath. His vision darkened and Mbenga collapsed to the ground. Next, his body trembled violently as huge beads of perspiration rolled down his cheeks.

“Hahahaha!” Glimpsing this scene, Guarba laughed hysterically and enjoyed the scene.

Meanwhile, Sheyan was extremely clear on why Guarba was laughing. This was because Mbenga was purely relying on his hatred to control Gundazan’s body, or in other words, the curse of vengeance to control his body!

However, with every Ndipaya foe he cut down, a sliver of that curse would disperse away. The more Ndipaya foes he chopped down, the weaker the curse would become……likewise, the repression of the body primary’s persona would weaken!

Being an extremely shrewd individual, Sheyan clearly understood his present capabilities was vastly inferior to Guarba. However, in terms of scheming capabilities, he wouldn’t lose out to him.

He immediately captured Guarba’s hidden intent – as long as Guarba presented Mbenga with the opportunities to kill off Elder Hecaosi, the grievances of Mbenga would diminish once again. As Mbenga’s hatred continues to plummet, he would sooner or later, be incapable of suppressing the body’s primary persona.

Therefore, if the primary persona attempts to seize back control of the body, the consequences would be paralyzingly devastating for both parties; it was akin to the military police fighting against the normal police. When that happens, Mbenga would surely lose control of the body.

As a result, Guarba can easily cast a certain secret shaman art, and perhaps, even seize Mbenga’s body as his own puppet.

In other words, the ultimate conclusion of the battle would be this – the loyal elders of the Coiled Serpent subtribe would perish, while the only inheritor would be manipulated by Guarba.

As a result, Guarba could seize total control of everything, and tacitly annex the martial might of the Coiled Serpent subtribe. A result a hundred folds better than straight up collision!!

As compared to a crafty old fox like Guarba, the two Coiled Serpent elders were essentially like little kids.

“Since that’s so….” Still feigning death in a heap of corpses afar, Sheyan’s lips curled into a sly smirk.

“This means you fear killing off Mbenga…..or accurately speaking, the body that Mbenga has possessed. Otherwise, all your painstaking efforts would be for naught. The Coiled Serpent subtribe ultimately wouldn’t swallow the animosity of killing their own chieftain, Gundazan. Hmph, hmph, looks like I have a role in this battle after all!”

“Hecaosi.” Guarba suddenly called out the name of the other Coiled Serpent tribe priest. “You have no chances of victory, not even the least bit. I shall offer you a surviving way out, that is….cooperate with me to capture that brat at once. After that…..I shall turn him into an obedient puppet. With the two tribes unifying as one, the splendor of the Ndipaya Tribe would irradiate the great earth once again! The future belongs to us. Out of pity, I beseech you to choose wisely.”

Hecaosi stood by the corner of this bonfire plaza.

At present, the distance between him and Mbenga, and between Mbenga and Guarba, was roughly the same. Hecaosi crooked his body forward and clutched his mouth. After retracting his arm, his palm was infused with additional warmness.

Chapter 656: The wise and reserved Hecaosi

As Hecaosi unfolded his palm, he shockingly produced a spittle of dark red blood; a blood color that shocks the eye and astonishes the heart.

A spittle of blood that Hecaosi violently coughed out!

Sheyan pondered pensively as he witnessed this sight.

Because prior to this, Hecaosi seemingly hadn’t made a single move, merely confining himself to spectating by the side. Even when he did, he only delivered long-range assaults. Without even being harmed in close combat, why was he heavily wounded to the point of coughing blood?

Yet upon closer inspection of his blood, one could tell it was exceedingly peculiar. Instead of flowing away, the blood coagulated into water beads of metallic glossiness, resembling that of the liquid secreted by the ‘Stairway of the Sun’.

“This is truly strange, could it be…..” Sheyan muttered to himself in disbelieve. “He is hiddenly powerful?”

As Hecaosi faced the zenith of Ndipaya formidability, Guarba, he didn’t display a single expression of fear or cowardice. Instead, he gently declared.

“Many thanks for killing that old fogey Thiago, and thus creating this opportunity today! He is the only one that can suppress me, the only stumbling block in my way! The glory of the Ndipaya Tribe will indeed illuminate the earth once again, however, it will be under my sovereignty! Moreover, hehe, I won’t be offering you the pleasure of following me.”

Upon issuing this statement, an abnormality emerged on Hecaosi’s left arm!

The blood vessels connecting his shoulder blade to his torso suddenly fissured. Then, it extended downwards like tentacles before coiling around his entire left arm. Instantly, that arm started swelling and elongated, as he emitted out coarse gasping groans. It was as though a tremendous pain was condensing onto him!

Feeling something fishy, Guarba hastily commanded his gigantic zombie beast to charge towards Hecaosi. Instead, for some unknown reason, the gigantic zombie beast halted 7-8 meters away from Hecaosi. It then begun whiffing around as though it couldn’t determine Hecaosi’s position.

Guarba instantly revealed an appalled countenance, before bellowing out furiously in enlightenment.

“You actually secretly retained ground dust of the sacred artifact?! Only that can interfere with the senses of my child. Ah, it seems you have been scheming against me for a very long time!”

Guarba then raised his golden scepter to manipulate the two enormous serpent-headed statues; attempting to shift them, to utilize their convex mirrors to focus an incinerating sunbeam at Hecaosi.

Despite that, as the two enormous statues shifted, Hecaosi’s heavy groaning simultaneously ceased. With his head high and chest out, he stepped forward.

This previously hunchbacked and feeble old priest, currently appeared with unprecedented vigor and thriving robustness! His bloodshot eyes glared menacingly like a pair of scarlet ferocious beast eyes, carrying a savage desire for carnage.

Right now, his left arm no longer looked like an arm. Instead, it was a wriggling giant blood-red leech, with constant convulsions and churning beneath the skin. Near his shoulder blade, arteries or perhaps veins continued coiling around, swiftly proliferating towards his body like blood red tree roots.

At this instant, the focused sunbeams finally pierced towards Hecaosi.

Suddenly, Hecaosi smashed his giant mutated arm onto the ground; blasting rock fragments away in all directions. Leveraging on the recoiling impact, he rolled and evaded with unparalleled agility.

At this moment, the zombie beast abruptly released a threatening roar as its senses finally felt Hecaosi’s movement.

Meanwhile, Hecaosi’s arm remained consistently evolving, from a disgusting giant leech into a parasitic vile bug. Then, it morphed into an eyeless python with a swollen head and deadly large jaws. Coiling gently in the air, the python adopted a cautious bearing as it eyed the encroaching zombie beast, while concurrently fumigating out cautionary violet mist.

One could vividly notice, dozens of sharp razor-sharp fangs polluted the darkness of the python’s large jaws. They were seemingly rotating slowly and stretched deep into the abstrusity of its throat, and faintly sparkled with beautiful starry violet brilliance.

“This Hecaosi actually is able to grasp the abilities of parasitic mutations, a similar plague to the one that befell the Europeans!!” Sheyan could immediately confirm this. After suffering substantially by the Plaga Hosts, he had developed an additional familiarity with them. With one look, he could observe the differences between Hecaosi’s parasite and Travice’s one.

At this moment, under the control of Guarba, that zombie beast managed to escape the delusion of Hecaosi. Fiercely carrying a gust of fishiness, the beast pounced menacingly at Hecaosi.

Even though Hecaosi appeared extraordinarily bloated and dragged along a giant parasitic python on his left, he still possessed frightening speed. With relative ease, he dodged the zombie beast.

Landing onto nothing, the humongous zombie beast furiously spun round. Instead, a short javelin hurled by Hecaosi abruptly impaled its left arm. Following that, Hecaosi darted in ambush into the blind sight of this zombie break.

Concurrently, that giant parasitic python of matchless thickness then speared forward with serpent-like agility, and twined several rounds around the zombie beast’s upper limbs.

After that, the python’s swollen enlarged jaws towered over. With tiny circular grey fangs rotating speedily within, the python rampantly drilled deep into the zombie beast’s body like an electric drill.

Blood and flesh instantly splattered crazily. It was like a sprinkler truck, splashing over the Hecaosi’s entire face. As Hecaosi swallowed with his widened mouth, an endless flow of mangled flesh overflowed from the corners of his mouth.

Though he appeared in a frenzied state, Sheyan could tell from his eyes that he actually possessed an indifferent composure, without a single hint of insanity!

The zombie beast roared painfully as it lashed out its incisive bone claws in retaliation. Instead, the parasitic python proceeded to constrict the legs of zombie beast, and pulled it strenuously.

Instantaneously, the zombie beat lost its balance and tumbled to the ground. Naturally, its fury swipes missed the mark. Such was the pristine execution of Hecaosi’s technique to defend by attacking.

Seizing this chance, Hecaosi grabbed another javelin and hurled it out at a lightning pace. It drilled deep into the other eye of this humongous zombie beast!

Noteworthily, Sheyan took particular notice of one detail.

When that javelin pierced into the zombie beast’s eye, it first stabbed in only an inch.

Yet in the next second, clearly already disconnected with Hecaosi’s hurling arm, the javelin astoundingly appeared as though an invisible palm behind had pushed it further in; once again, dripping 2 inches deeper. Blood, eye liquid, and bodily fluids oozed out from the pressurizing javelin and splashed everywhere.

Though Hecaosi’s javelin throwing technique looked rather unremarkable, in truth, it was an excellent advanced grade throwing ability.

After witnessing this sequence of fighting, Sheyan realized that though Hecaosi was also a mutated parasitic user, he was utterly different from the likes of Travice.

Travice had been completely dominated by the parasitic bug, even his consciousness was replaced by the cravings and appetites of the parasites! Although the strongest Travice displayed some autonomy in fighting, it was probably a fraction of retained memory. Furthermore, during the critical moment when his main parasite had sensed a dangerous threat, it turned berserk thereby leading to its self-demise.

However, one could clearly tell the parasite python on Hecaosi’s arm was under his complete control. It was practically the same as his other javelin wielding arm!

Hecaosi was craftily leveraging on the insatiable appetite of the parasitic python to wage combat, while he himself didn’t receive a single backlash; retaining all autonomy over combat awareness, tactics, and techniques!

In no time, the humongous zombie beast suffered exceedingly grave injuries. The impression this brutal monstrosity emanated, was that of a wall on the verge of collapse, while Hecaosi’s parasitic python arm was an unrelenting electric drill; pummeling in a thousand crumbling holes!

At times, Hecaosi’s dodging speed didn’t appear incredibly deft, and Sheyan reckoned that in a sprinting competition, he would surely lose to the zombie beast. Nevertheless, tangled in such a close combat battle, the tremendous size of this cumbersome zombie beast became its fatal flaw.

Still, one had to admit, Hecaosi’s dodging techniques and timing were truly astonishing to behold.

During this battle, it seemed as though Hecaosi was exceptionally familiar with the fighting patterns of this humongous zombie beast. He devastated areas where the beast found it inconvenient to retaliate, like the back of the head, rolling beneath the abdomen and so on. Furthermore, whenever he encountered a deadlock situation, he would forcibly create a blind angle!

In addition, the miserable defense of the zombie beast was akin to paper or paste in the face of the incisive parasitic python. Thus, not too long later, after chunks of flesh were ripped out of the zombie beast, its internal core was exposed to the open air. The core shockingly appeared like an artificial heart, formed by the blood that Guarba had regurgitated earlier.

That heart resembled a circular hedgehog, with a network of blood vessels reaching out everywhere, and constantly pumped like a living heart. At this moment, Hecaosi’s parasitic python widened its jaws and chomped a devastating large hole from the beast core. Then, it swallowed it whole!

Heaving its core fatally wounded, the zombie beast stood rigidly where it was. Then, many of its mangled corpses slid off its body and slumped onto the plaza. Soon after, they decomposed and shriveled, finally blown away like dusty dried corpses.

To Sheyan’s surprise, Guarba only watched as his own creature was slaughtered. His robust face unexpectedly painted a nonchalant smirk, as he folded both arms and glared coldly at Hecaosi.

Right at the moment the zombie beast was killed, Guarba suddenly raised his golden scepter up high.

Chapter 657: Gains and losses

In a flash, the rays of the midday sun converged over the dazzling golden scepter before exploding out instantaneously!

Witnessing such a scorching resplendent radiance, Hecaosi immediately believed Guarba was about to counterattack. He clutched his eyes and retreated hastily, making a backward roll before adopting a strict guarding stance.

Yet at this precise instance, the sludging remnants of Guarba’s dying zombie beast abruptly lurched towards Mbenga, who was presently gripping his head and trembling excessively.

Sheyan’s breathing froze at this instance. For him to just watch as Mbenga dies before him, was absolutely impossible. Just as he was about to leap out and shield Mbenga, a notion flashed up in his mind.

“If I were Guarba…..”

Due to that very notion, Sheyan continued feigning death as he watched as the withering zombie beast swipe towards Mbenga with its claws.

Feeling a severe incoming threat, Mbenga howled crazily and raised his head. Blood was streaming down his eyes, looking as though the primary persona was already bitterly contesting sovereignty of his body against the secondary persona.

Yet within a split second, Mbenga reacted by picking up a pike, before executing an inward roll before thrusting his pike in; instantly puncturing into the remnic core of the zombie beast. It was as though the zombie beast had offered its vital region directly to Mbenga!!

This honed battle tactic was extremely insightful, and Sheyan could grasp the underlying intent that Guarba had for it.

“Indeed, it is so. Since that zombie beast is useless, why not allow a garbage of corpse to fulfill its last value. With Mbenga finishing it off, another portion of grievances, the comrades and kin that perished by the corpse beast then, would dissipate again. As a result, his soul force would weaken once more, and the original master can naturally seize this opportunity to snatch control of his body. The collisions of both personas would lead to the body stagnating. This implies that Guarba wouldn’t need to consider the threat of Mbenga for a period of time. It is truly a well thought up plan!”

“Excluding that, Guarba definitely possess deeper considerations. Since he intends to turn the Gundazan into a puppet, holding the feudal overlord and thereby turning the Coiled Serpent subtribe into his vassal, then undoubtedly, he wishes for both personas to suffer, and the best is for them to degenerate into moronic dimwits! By sacrificing the zombie beast, he would continue to weaken and provide support to the currently weaker primary persona…..”

Realizing his misjudgment as he spectated the zombie beast dying, Hecaosi, in turn, wasn’t in a rush to attack. The giant parasitic python on his left arm gradually atrophied and shrank back to the form of an ordinary arm. Meanwhile, that rampant malevolent parasitic python was reduced into a thick cyan vein, that coiled around his left arm.

Hecaosi glanced at Guarba and earnestly urged.

“Come, let me behold the true might of the powerful Sun child! Strike me down, and without this final hindrance, the Coiled Serpent subtribe would completely fall into your hands! Of course, if you fall by my hands, the Sun subtribe will never escape the fate of being devoured by me!”

Guarba stood uprightly under the brilliance of the sun. Revealing an indifferent expression, the golden scepter in his hands continued sparkling. His herculean frame issued an imposing pressure, as he replied with a certain ridicule.

“Frankly speaking, I ought to inform you of something. The bloodline of the Bayin clan has already been severed with the death of the old Gundazan. The person standing before you isn’t the descendant of the old Gundazan. Therefore, even if you managed to kill me today, fostering this illegitimate puppet would not yield you any miracles.”

Upon listening to Guarba’s words, the tormented, head-clutching Mbenga shuddered a little. Instead, Hecaosi disdainfully replied.

“Ho, Guarba, your words are akin to stinking toxic of a rotten toad ovum. Do you think I’d believe you?”

Guarba caressed his bald head and burst into hearty laughter.

“If the blood flowing within your Gundazan’s veins truly belongs to the Bayin clan, how would that blood curse be trapped within for so many years?”

Hecaosi scoffed callously.

“The old Gundazan was stronger and wiser than you, Guarba. Do you really think he would acknowledge an heir that isn’t of his own bloodline? That year, the old Gundazan left behind his dying words in the presence of the entire tribe, and prophesied that his son would inevitably return and claim the throne of Gundazan once again!

Guarba replied insipidly.

“You aren’t wrong. The old Gundazan was truly mightier and wiser than me, but, he was also older! To a male, the inability of impregnating the bosom of a woman is an extraordinary shame and humiliation……would he divulge such a secret? Facing that illegitimate child, the old Gundazan chose to cower into the ground like an earthworm, choosing to remain silent instead of bluntly executing him.”

Hecaosi’s pupils shrank slightly.

“Do you think I’m dumb? The bloodline of the Bayin clan only awakens at a later time, it is a stark difference from your Huajin clan, whose bloodline would awaken rapidly under the radiance of the sun. The mystical powers of the Bayin bloodline can only be awakened under the constant tempering of starlight and moonlight.”

Guarba refuted with a contemptuous tone.

“Is that so? I really despise fools who think they know the truth after touching on a tiny slice. Then do you know? Any warrior who carries the divine bloodline, is engraved with the divine insignia on their backs?”

With that single question, Hecaosi’s eyes reflexively twitched a little, before gazing towards the anguished Mbenga!

However, Hecaosi was clueless that Guarba was merely spewing a bunch of garbage. All his lies had momentarily provided him an opportunity to replenish some strength.

Within several short fleeting seconds, Guarba’s herculean frame was already soaring through the air. In this moment, the large lion head painted on Guarba’s right shoulder pelt, appeared like it was alive and roaring. The scorching sun formed his backdrop, as its blinding rays grazed in like a million flaming arrows; piercing and burning Hecaosi’s eyes. The fur of the lion pelt prestigiously fluttered, exhibiting a vibrant dazzle analogous to that of a gold plate.

The shadow of Guarba’s massive frame was soon cast over Hecaosi’s entire body. As the sunrays continued mercilessly dazzling Hecaosi’s eyes, all Hecaosio could view was a field of blinding whiteness!

While pouncing in, Guarba nimbly spun his golden scepter with his incredibly deft fingers.

According to common sense, such a heavy blunt weapon should be wielded with two hands. Instead in Guarba’s fingers, it was as though the golden scepter had sentience, and was being pleasurably frolicked by his fingers.

Eventually, the golden scepter appeared like a whirling golden sphere that spun unceasingly, beaming out sharp rays that radiated in bright contrast to the sunlight; thoroughly cauterizing Hecaosi’s pupils.

Hecaosi released a muffled groan and had already shut his eyes. Two streaks of blood, reminiscent of blood tears, trickled down his eyelids.

Yet by this point, his left arm had swiftly swelled and morphed into that terrifyingly heinous parasitic python!

Instantly, Hecaosi willed the python to welcome the onslaught of the golden scepter. Like an orange peel, the parasitic python slithered in and constricted around the golden scepter. Finally, its sinister jaws with rotating fangs lunged viciously towards Guarba’s arm.

Without a doubt, upon interaction with flesh, large chunks of mangled flesh and blood were insatiably devoured.

Guarba forcefully attempted to snatch away, but unexpectedly, his strength could not match up to the might of that parasitic python. He was utterly incapable of retracting his symbol of authority. Loosening his hand, he released it.

Nevertheless, he merely flashed an astonished countenance but not a defeated one. Instead of becoming exasperated at having his sacred artifact stolen, he remained calm and composed.

Meanwhile, Sheyan was observing Guarba. He suddenly discovered that Guarba probably still had many cards up his sleeves. Right from the start, this redoubtable tribe chieftain could have blazed in like a lion hunting a rabbit. If that happened, it would be hard to imagine the outcome of his three foes dueling against the beast zombie, while having to fend him off at the same time.

Still, even though Sheyan felt like Guarba could stake everything in, he wasn’t willing to.

As long as he wasn’t completely confident, Guarba wouldn’t commit. He could never tolerate failure and utterly disliked the vexed feeling of defeat. He was one who enjoyed the peacefulness of subjugating his foes without violence.

That was probably Guarba’s mentality.

After having his golden scepter snatched by Hecaosi, Guarba remained calm and composed as he stood and appraised.

“Formidable, truly, absolutely formidable. Those foreigners sailed in from the vast sea and lusted for the powers of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, therefore, it was a necessity for them to suffer punishment meted out by the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, becoming possessed by their inner demons. It really is hard to imagine, but you were actually eyeing the wicked powers of their punishment! And have even grasped it!”

Hecaosi indifferently replied.

“True power isn’t distinguished between righteous and evil. In this world, there is only victory or defeat. To the other tribes of the great Kijuju Marshland, it is a terrifying symbol of vile pestilence, but to us, it is the divine spirit protecting the Ndipaya people for millenniums!”

Chapter 658: Demon eye

“Well said.” Guarba laughed hysterically. “Thus, I shall award you a chance. Yield at once and abdicate to me, for I do not lack power, but what I lack, is an astute assistant like you!”

All of a sudden, Hecaosi’s giant parasitic python ejaculated a jet of venomous pus from its sinister mouth. However, it didn’t reach Guarba but merely sprinkled onto the ground before emitting sizzling sounds. In a blink of an eye, a few large pits were corroded out, as an awful stench pervaded the atmosphere.

Guarba harrumphed and asked.

“What a pity, is this your foolish answer?”

In response, Hecaosi charged forth. He could already perceive that Guarba was tarrying for time, and since Hecaosi was at his optimal state now, he wasn’t willing to delay any longer. With this very move, he would offer no mercy.

Upon nearing Guarba, steam arose from Hecaosi as though his skin was scalding from boiling blood.

Pa! The hide vest he was wearing inflated dramatically before his muscles tore it asunder. Instantly beneath, one could observe a ghastly sight of intertwining scars connecting Hecaosi’s parasitic python and his shoulder. Multitudes of arteries and veins populated its border as though the python was sewed, circulating flourishing energies into the heinous parasitic python.

The jaws of the parasitic python enlarged nefariously to its limits, with circular fangs whirling constantly.

Even the prostrating Sheyan from afar felt as though a vortex residing inside those jaws, possessing an inexhaustible suction force that could absorb and devour all matter in. If he was standing right in front of those jaws, the only outcome would be being grinded to a fleshy paste!

Instead, Guarba erupted with wild laughter and pressed his right arm forward, aiming towards the parasitic python!

Sheyan could vividly observe a misleading phenomenon – Guarba was seemingly ‘expanding’, as distinct air fluctuations rippled through the air alongside his pressing right arm; resembling that of heat waves radiating from a bonfire. The heatwaves then amplified crazily, as the air around distorted uncontrollably.

Violent cackles erupted in the air, and amidst the heated stream of air, the lion fur of Guarba’s pelt fluttered up excitedly; revealing his sturdy and robust body beneath.

In this instance, Hecaosi’s pupils contracted while Sheyan’s heartbeat accelerated rapidly.

One could distinctly see that amidst Guarba’s maniacal laughter, his tremendous right shoulder was deforming and swelling rapidly. Beneath the cover of that bold and majestic lion pelt, actually hid such invincibly terrifying…..power!

It was an eye, a monumental crimson eye!

That monumental eye exceeded 70 centimeters and occupied half of Guarba’s right chest, stretching through his shoulder blade and nearly reaching his head.

The periphery of the eye was populated with thick blood vessels, linking this weird organ directly to his body; as though it was bursting out of Guarba’s skin. The thick blood fibers of his muscles could also be distinctly seen.

A wretched grey shaded the eye white of this monumental eye, and vandalized by dense masses of capillaries. Only a fist-sized, deep-red pupil appeared bottomless like the boundless abyss of the ocean, as it completely devoured the dazzling rays of the midday sun!

With that diabolical monumental eye as the core, Sheyan could notice with matchless clarity; circular arcs of incorporeal spirit essence rippled from its periphery. Those spirit ripples were incomparably fiery. As they diffused out from Guarba’s monumental eye, the ripples finally condensed onto the golden scepter that was now in Hecaosi’s hands.

Within mere milliseconds, the ripples triggered a mechanism within. That golden scepter automatically revolved 180 degrees as fast as the rumbling of a thunderbolt hitting one’s ears. Incapable of reacting in time, Hecaosi could only forcibly endure.

In this instance, Sheyan’s senses went disastrously haywire. It was clearly bright midday, yet it seemed like the entire sky had suddenly transformed into the darkest night. It was as though every bit of sunlight had been absorbed into that golden scepter!!

Such a strange phenomenon only lasted 2 seconds. Yet when Sheyan regained his senses, Hecaosi had bluntly crashed down face first. His entire body had been roasted and riddled with high degree burn wounds. Charred fumes rose in spirals from incinerated black ashes. This sensation was utterly reminiscent of a recently burnt firewood in a fire pit.

Guarba spitefully chortled.

“The Sun tribe has passed the golden scepter on for 1,530 years. Its history vastly surpasses that of the most ancient of scorched trees. How could it be so easily plundered by others? Peasants who try in vain to offend the dignity of the sun god, will be punished by fire!”

Under the scorching sun, Guarba’s lofty figure inflated while gripping his golden scepter. Complementing that surreptitious monumental eye on his right shoulder and his herculean body frame, he exuberated an unspeakable devilish bewitchment. All forces, individuals or intent would be suppressed to the bottommost depth of his soul!!! Before being incinerated to dust by the scorching sun!

Witnessing the terror of this monster, Sheyan very blatantly feigned death. He could deeply fathom that Guarba was probably an equal tier existence as that of the Boss Licker! Wanting him to deal with that monster would be no different from asking him to commit suicide.

All of a sudden, without a sound nor warning, Hecaosi bounced back up from the ground. His countenance sinister as he attempted to stake it all on one throw. Once again, that electric drill like parasitic python aimed towards Guarba, where its swollen mouth widened to its extremity.

Incisive circular fangs and a dense mass of blood vessels could be seen running down the interior of its throat. At this moment, a glowing blood globe had noiselessly formed and was expanding unceasingly.

In a flurry, that blood globe shot thunderously towards Guarba. At this instant, though Hecaosi’s body remained lofty, not a single trace of strength or aggressiveness could be sensed from him. That blood globe had seemingly consumed all his energy.

His parasitic python directly turned limp, before drying up and shrinking; becoming even tinier than an ordinary arm. It had exhausted all its vitality by unleashing that globe.

In the face of Hecaosi’s suicidal assault, Guarba’s expression finally changed. Raising his golden scepter while yelling aloud, the monumental pupil on his shoulder contracted and intensified its gaze. Then, Guarba pressed in his right arm again towards that glowing blood globe.

When both forces collided, a stalemate ensued for several seconds. As Guarba exhausted his strength and gradually found it harder to resist, that blood globe still maintained its initial pressurizing ferocity and deadliness; its accumulated energies seemingly inexhaustible!

Though disadvantaged, Guarba didn’t exhibit any fluster but took a deep breath instead. All of a sudden, that monumental eye on his shoulder blinked.

This was an ordinary action to common human eyes. However, when done by Guarba’s diabolical demonic eye, it donned an unexplainable strangeness; brimming with shuddering fright.

Sunlight momentarily disappeared and darkness overthrew the entire domain. All brightness of the scorching weather was rapidly sucked into the monumental pupil. Evidently, unleashing such accumulated force would bring about an earth-shattering calamity; a focused beam that could eradicate all!

Yet right at this time, a deep hoarse voice rang out.

“Oh, Guarba. Filthy like the hyena of the fields, rapacious like a forest snake, disgusting like flatworms of the mudflat, as stupid as a sea turtle.”

“That year when you failed in your attempt to draw the powers of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’….right before you became a consecrated offering to the divine, it was the grand Coiled Serpent who rescued you from your horrifying nightmare with its omnipresent power. Only then did you managed to obtain the invincible might from the ‘Stairway of the Sun’. How dare you use that very power to deal treacherously against a priest of the Coiled Serpent, the descendant of our noble Jörmungandr?!”

(TN: Jörmungandr is an actual serpent in Norse mythology)

Listening to that voice, waves of shock fluctuated in Sheyan’s heart. He couldn’t help but glance over.

A figure now stood by the main coiled serpent statue of this bonfire plaza –

Mbenga!!

Only now, though the current Mbenga looked the same, that scarlet red scar that tainted his forehead had turned so mild, it was nearly nonexistent. The aura governing his body had been altered from head to toe.

At present, if a native villager of Port Qom was here, he definitely wouldn’t be able to recognize that this was the muddle-headed, and foolishly straightforward Mbenga!

This also signified one fact – The chieftain of the Coiled Serpent subtribe, the true inheritor of the Bayin bloodline and the seat of the majestic Gundazan, had finally been extricated from the fetters of Mbenga’s grievous spirits.

Finally, he regained sovereignty of his own body.

Evidently, this scenario had exceeded Guarba’s expectations!

As the brains behind his party, Sheyan was the clearest on this logic – no matter how meticulous and deliberate one’s plan was, there would often be oversight or deviations along the process! It was impossible to defy fate.

Obviously, the unexpected accelerated awakening of Gundazan, was completely out of Guarba’s expectations; a hundred percent oversight on his part.

Guarba didn’t reply. In actual fact, he didn’t even pay attention to Gundazan’s words. When he first caught glimpse of him standing by the Coiled Serpent statue, an immense crisis already welled up in his heart.

This crisis was so potent, he felt as though it would determine his life and death!!!

Chapter 659: Deprivation of six senses

Guarba hadn’t felt such a fatal, life-threatening, crisis in a long time.

Hence, he immediately ignored the glowing blood globe in front and shifted half his body, positioning his monumental crimson pupil to lock onto the Gundazan’s body, in an attempt to unleash his ultimate attack towards that suffocating cradle of crisis.

In spite of that, prior to the Gundazan announcing his entry, he had already sliced two deep lacerations onto his palm; so much so, that his eerie white palm bone could be seen. After concluding his sentence, two palms streaming with blood were already pressing onto the eyes of the malevolent Coiled Serpent Statue.

Regardless of elevation, loftiness or ravishing splendor, this erected Coiled Serpent statue towered over all other enormous statues within the entire innermost reaches. At present, Sheyan, and the vast majority of Ndipaya tribesmen were all aware that its greatest functionality was in triggering the elevator to the Sun Garden.

Yet witnessing the Gundazan’s actions now, one could deduce the existence of another immense mystery residing in this statue. This was a mystery that could even banish the redoubtable Guarba to the land of the dead.

At this moment, a chilling wariness flooded Guarba’s heart; because as the high priest of the Ndipaya tribe, he understood that this Coiled Serpent statue possessed a sky shattering secret! Nevertheless, he had always believed this mystery to have vanished with the death of the old Gundazan. Never did he expect, this mystery had been inherited.

A second later, 3 seconds elapsed, and finally 5 seconds past. An awkward situation presented itself.

After Gundazan’s supposed blood magic interacted with the Coiled Serpent Statue….nothing happened at all!!!!!

Guarba was dumbstruck and so was Sheyan. In fact, even Gundazan was distractedly baffled.

“Perhaps after years of wear and tear, the mechanism is faulty?” Sheyan couldn’t help but guess, but instantly tossed that conjecture aside.

“No, impossible. The statue’s mechanisms pertain to the only gateway to the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, it was definitely built to be incredibly long-lasting and durable. Even if all other mechanisms of the Ndipaya Kingdom turned faulty, this would be the last to break!”

Though the battlefield had plunged into a cold awkwardness, Guarba was the first to react. After all, the threat he just felt couldn’t have been faked right?

Immediately, one could notice the Gundazan’s reflection forming within the pupil of Guarba’s shoulder eye. In the next instance, it was as though a thousand suns had blossomed simultaneously on this bonfire plaza.

Such bright intensity, such surging heat pouring down in torrents, everything converged into an exceptionally fine and straight resplendent light ray! A light ray a hundred folds amplified that of sunrays beamed out from Guarba’s monumental crimson pupil. It penetrated straight into the Gundazan’s body; incinerating out a tragic cauterized impalation. A wave of awful burnt flesh stench pervaded in spirals into the air.

That finger width light ray didn’t disperse but flickered constantly for a full second; utterly decimating his foe with immeasurable heat and unrivaled velocity. After flashes of radiances, many ping pong sized blood holes had formed on Gundazan’s steel-like muscles.

Even in the aftermath of this dusty environment, one could spectate the panorama of white clouds and the blue sky through those blood holes.

Due to the infernal heat of those light rays, all victimized flesh had been incinerated into ashes. Even the surrounding wounds had been cauterized and closed, preventing any blood from leaking out! In a cruel sense, any organ, muscle or flesh nearby those blood holes was roasted to 70-80 percent cooked.

It didn’t stop there. The spirit force of that furtive monumental eye was equally lethal, compounding over another layer of spiritual destruction.

The Gundazan stood there lifelessly for a brief while. His face revealed an agonized, despairing and damnable countenance. After vomited a mouthful of blood, he finally collapsed. This time, be it physical or spiritual, he truly sustained fatal injuries!

This Coiled Serpent subtribe chieftain faltered in misery. Suppressed within his own sea of consciousness for years, he finally resurfaced as a hidden boss; intending to secure victory with a single hammer blow by relying on an inherited secret, passed on from generations to generations. Instead, he pathetically discovered this secret was probably just a trivial ploy to placate the dignity of Gundazans.

Nevertheless, the Gundazan’s actions weren’t completely ineffective.

By stealing away most of Guarba’s attention, that glowing blood globe, paid for with most of Hecaosi’s vitality, directly collided into Guarba and exploded with blood and flesh splattering everywhere. Strangely, a huge portion of mutilated mess chose to adhere to Guarba’s monumental crimson eye.

The Guarba who lorded over this battlefield instantly suffered the brunt of Hecaosi’s dying wrath. An ice-cold numbing sensation slowly diffused into him after being contaminated by that glowing blood globe. Not only that, his nefarious monumental eye gradually corroded while his own vision begun dimming, feeling as though his whole body was slowly enshrouded by darkness!

Only now did Guarba realized, the exterior glow of the blood globe, was merely masquerading a ball of sticky liquid within. Possibly, it was the venomous liquid secreted by that parasitic python. Even solid rocks and rubber dissolved upon contacting the splattering liquid, what more his own flesh?

Within a split second, grotesque sizzling sounds transmitted out from his corroding skin, hair and even his bone, as though he was immersed in sulfuric acid. Beneath his tightly shut eyes, his ghastly white cheekbones were also exposed from the sprinkling residues of that glowing blood globe.

The redoubtable Guarba couldn’t help but drown in the agony of strands of flesh being devoured away, as he groaned with incomparable sorrow.

In this precise instant, Hecaosi pulled out a short javelin. Crafted in the shape of a serpent, when Hecaosio gripped this javelin, the air seemed to have frozen with ghastly eeriness.

Never ever forget!! Hecaosi was, after all, an elder of the Coiled Serpent subtribe that’s adept in long-range combat. His far range combat abilities were definitely lethal! Drawing back his short javelin, he directly hurled it. Instantly, a ripping sound pierced the air.

Presently, the struggling Guarba couldn’t dodge in time and was his chest was directly punctured by that serpent javelin! Like an electric drill, the serpent javelin whirled frantically, excavating out large amounts of flesh and blood; forcibly drilling open a horrifying massive hole in Guarba’s chest.

In response, the enraged Guarba howled berserkly and gripped the tail end of that serpent javelin. Then, that sinister crimson blood eye on his right shoulder inflated rapidly like a ball, before, it ruptured with a thunderous boom!!!

The instant that monumental eye ruptured, even the distant Sheyan was overwhelmed by an intense hallucination; as though time had halted.

Not only had time halted, he could sense that all functionality of his sensory organs had been sealed. His sight, taste, hearing, smell, feel and even the unexplainable intuition, was completely eclipsed. It was as though he still existed in this world but took no form.

When Sheyan regained his vision, it was coincidentally the moment where Guarba stomped in, and mercilessly dug out Hecaosi’s heart with a single claw. Then, he insatiably chewed and gobbled it up, as blood trickled down his lips; truly a gory sight to behold.

As for Guarba, his figure was equally pathetic. That monumental crimson eye on his right shoulder had been completely obliterated, leaving only a dismembered crater in its wake; a disorderly mess of bulky veins, nerves and flowing fluids. Moreover, portions of his deathly pale skeleton could be seen through the hosts of corroded flesh holes.

After consuming Hecaosi’s heart, Guarba expressed a desire to continue. Upon noticing Gundazan still holding onto his final breath underneath the Coiled Serpent statue, Guarba staggered over with heavy footsteps.

His footsteps left a trail of watery footprints, as though his bodily fluids, or random fluids, were being forcefully squeezed out.

Guarba panted heavily as he finally arrived before Gundazan. Suddenly, he felt something amiss. Upon turning around, he realized a pair of incisive eyes were glaring at him. In this instant, a strange sensation welled up in Guarba; as though this pair of eyes had been fixated on him for a very, very long time.

“Who, are, you?”

The owner of the eyes unhurriedly crawled up from the heap of corpses. Cutting a relatively sorry state, his body was drenched in blood. Nevertheless, his demeanor remained composed and unyielding, like the developments so far was well within his calculations.

Guarba disliked the expression that stranger was casting, because he normally employed the same expression when looking at others; an expression of holding one’s life and death within his palm. Conversely, when treated by someone else like that, it was akin to the disparity of being killed by someone or killing off someone.

Hence, Guarba took a step forward as he breathed heavily. He could tell this individual should be a foreigner, one whose strength was merely comparable to a mediocre tribe warrior.

During the golden era of the Ndipaya Kingdom, such warriors were numbered at over 50,000! Even with the current enfeebling decline, the warriors of this caliber under Guarba exceeded 200.

Therefore, the abruptly emerging Sheyan was completely viewed like an ant, a puny discountable ant!

Chapter 660: Principality!!

Explaining the power disparity between them in the nightmare realm context, Sheyan would be equivalent to that of the lowest rung contestant while Guarba would be a full-fledged Awakener!

Two vast realms separated them, and putting it bluntly, Sheyan could be simply squashed by a single finger.

Therefore, Guarba held no concern over an annoying pesky ant, like how a famished individual would detest a tiny ant crawling on his hamburger. Feeling blood rush in his head, the breath he exuded was steamy heat. In this famished state, he desperately needed fresh blood to extinguish the flames of his heart!

Hence, Guarba lifted up his razor sharp fingernails. Right before he swiped down against the Gundazan, a sonorous boom resounded behind him.

Guarba suddenly felt an acute pain and spun round with rage, only to discover a strange weapon in the hand of that pesky ant. Moreover, spiralling fumes were drifting out from that weapon’s mouth.

Guarba bellowed furiously as he launched towards that ant. His face beaming with victorious contempt, and only felt his dignity being sullied by accepting this challenge!

Yet when the two ferociously collided, the outcome left Sheyan stupefied as both of them were instantly struck flying.

Sheyan’s saber had stabbed into Guarba’s abdomen, and drew out a streak of viscous chartreuse colored sap. Concurrently, Guarba slapped Sheyan’s face.

In this very instant, Sheyan felt as though his neck was about to snap under Guarba’s domineering strength. In the end, he only coughed blood and scrambled back up.

“How can this be??” A bad omen surged through Guarba’s heart. “How can this be????!!! I must’ve been too careless!”

This bad omen was instantly eclipsed by Guarba’s skyrocketing fury! Heaving deep breaths, he once again speared towards Sheyan; whom he had sent flying.

This time, the outcome unexpectedly ended with Guarba being struck flying! Instead, Sheyan remained perfectly fine and even sneered at Guarba.

Standing before him, Sheyan arrogantly looked down upon this redoubtable high priest of the Sun subtribe. His eyes leaked a lamentable yet mocking intent.

“High priest, Guarba? Could it be you’re still unaware of your circumstances?”

Guarba struggled to crawl up and scoffed.

“You little ant, what could happen to me?”

Sheyan drooped his eyelids and insipidly replied.

“Just look at your right arm.”

Guarba erupted with roaring laughter. Such a diversion tactic was long overused. “This bold ant is actually trying to hoodwink me?”

His vigilance tightened from that belief, but when he finally realized this opponent remained motionless, he subconsciously glanced at his right arm. With a single gaze, an indescribable chilliness jolted up his back.

As it turns out, Guarba’s right arm had strangely distorted, before dissolving away like a melting candle. This didn’t apply only to his superficial skin and flash, but even his dense white bones! It appeared astoundingly hideous.

Guarba roared with alarm and rage. As he was about to curse, Sheyan had already seized this moment of distraction to barrel into his front……slashing down with his raised saber! ‘+7 West’ maliciously carved a melancholic oceanic-blue ray down.

Guarba staggered backward upon receiving a slash to his shoulder. Furiously groaning to retaliate, his body suddenly started dissolving as he stumbled back. Large volumes of chartreuse colored liquid sludging out of his body repetitively. Every staggering step he took left a deep imprint filled with viscous liquid.

Sheyan took a deep inhalation and indifferently announced.

“You really aren’t aware of your circumstances eh? Guarba? The Gundazan of the Coiled Serpent subtribe has already retracted the blessing conferred unto you by the coiled serpent divinity. You were incapable of acquiring the power of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ then, you’re bound to fail once again!”

“What rubbish are you spouting!!” Guarba’s festering face already exposed his white skull as he howled with disbelieve.

Sheyan sighed and shook his head.

“What a pity, didn’t you listened to Gundazan’s furious wrath? He has already summoned the coiled serpent divinity to expropriate your strength!”

Guarba roared angrily.

“Impossible! Apart from unlocking the passage to the Sun Altar, there is nothing else that statue can do. That hoax who doesn’t even possess the Bayin bloodline, how can he call upon the divinity? This Sun temple has been erected for more than a millennium, and that ‘so-called’ secret mechanism had turned obsolete!”

“That mechanism wasn’t faulty.” Sheyan ruthlessly refuted. “It was already triggered by the blood of Gundazan. Only, the poor Gundazan wasn’t patient enough. The process of this mechanism takes a slightly longer time.”

As it turns out, while feigning death previously, Sheyan was relatively nearby the Coiled Serpent Statue. Hence, he observed that not long after the Gundazan dripped blood onto the statue, it actually faintly rose by 5 centimeters. Furthermore, it revealed an underlay of matchstick-sized tiny holes, that discharged out a mild, colorless gas.

Not only was it colorless, the gas was also emitting an exceedingly faint odor. After diffusing into the air for a while, slightly further individuals wouldn’t be able to smell it.

Nonetheless, Sheyan quickly discovered that the shade of nearby rocks had undergone slight alterations. Not only that, even black moss that thrived within stony crevices of this platform rapidly withered away.

Back in the real world, Sheyan had learned this – moss is a special type of vegetation; aquatic vegetation that grows towards land. Its stem and leaves composition is extremely simple, being usually unicellular. Moreover, moss does not possess a complex ‘nervous system’ nor genuine roots, where only unicellular fake roots or cells absorbs smidgens of moisture. The moss can directly absorb nutrients and contaminating substances from the air, and the concentration of natural substances in each cell normally exceeds that of other vegetation.

Therefore, most mosses are extremely sensitive vegetation. Once an unfavorable foreign toxin is introduced into the air, while most other vegetation would be fine, mosses could easily be affected and die. Therefore, in the real world, various types of moss are employed for contamination monitoring. Once the moss withers, it would represent that the area is contaminated.

In the past, one of the Coiled Serpent tribe chieftains was exceptionally knowledgeable in botany. After painstaking deliberations, he grew this layer of black moss surrounding the gateway to the Ndipaya Kingdom’s sacred Sun Garden. With the impressively sensitive nature of this moss, he could detect if contaminative substances were present or had seeped out, by observing the withering moss.

Through the tiny holes beneath the Coiled Serpent statue, a unique airborne powder had been discharged.

As the nearby layer of black moss rapidly withered into dried dust before dispersing into the air, it triggered that chieftain’s snare mechanism. A substance analogous to white phosphorus, which would combust once interacting with the air, became unveiled by the withering black moss. With the combustion of that substance, it instantly triggered a sequence of chain reactions and finally unsealed the ultimate mechanism.

This so-called ‘retracting the blessing of the coiled serpent divinity’ may look rather mystical, but to Sheyan who understood modern era science, it was essentially an amusing antic.

That chieftain understood that fatal counteracting weaknesses would emerge and balance out individuals who consumed the ‘Stairway of the Sun’. Just like how the average human needs to drink more water after eating an excessive amount of sweets. Like how a diabetes patient eating sugar would lead to ketone poisoning, angina, and other illnesses. As such, this snare was arranged towards that direction.

Similar to concealed assassination mechanism that utilizes special infrasonic wave bands; this combustion of an unknown substance to release odorless and colorless gas and powder, was skewed towards the concealed mortal flaw of bodies that had consumed the ‘Stairway of the Sun’!

Naturally, such a snare mechanism allowed one to disguise it as being able to call upon the gods.

Unbeknownst when, the sky had turned gloomy as dark clouds billowed in, hinting at a possible downpour.

Guarba’s bodily degradation continued speedily. Especially with that malevolent monumental eye as the core, there was no difference to a semi-melted candle. He slumped to the ground. Even his earlier miserable howls and cries had plunged into silence.

Without being able to resist, Sheyan simply needed a gently slash to claim the head of this unbeatable fighter!

At present, Sheyan hastily rushed up to attack. Instead, he abruptly glimpsed the Gundazan, who was still sprawled on the ground. An intense feeling of melancholy welled up in his heart, as flashes of his journey here projected vividly in his mind.

Without Mbenga’s assistance, it would be impossible to reach this step. Sadly, this male who shouldered such immense grief and vengeful indignance, had perished from this world. The Mbenga whose smile was so wide, it revealed all his teeth. The honest Mbenga with a silly smile. The Mbenga who displayed no fear in the face of all crisis, ultimately fell before his nemesis!!!

His aspiration to slay Guarba, this cherished desire he forsook even his life and soul to accomplish….even after burning through all his vengeful spirits, he failed to deliver!!

Sheyan sighed deeply as an audacious notion soared up from the depths of his heart. A raging passion that could never be extinguished!

He gently drew back his ‘+7 West’ from Guarba’s neck and shook his head sullenly. Humans, shouldn’t always live for the sole purpose of benefits.

A man of character chooses based on rational principalities!

Chapter 661: Still obtaining rewards

To Sheyan, slaying Guarba now would be as easy as flipping his hand. Of course, Guarba’s sorry state was attributed to the combined might of Thiago, Hecaosi, Mbenga and the Gundazan. Strictly speaking, one still had to factor in that ancient Coiled Serpent tribe chieftain who installed such an ingeniously marvelous mechanism.

All these had utterly no relations to Sheyan whatsoever. As a result, by slaying Guarba now, his rewards would definitely be the lowest rung.

Despite that, Guarba was no ordinary person. He was an existence two realms above Sheyan! Even the lowest class of rewards would bring unspeakable ecstasy.

However, Sheyan was determined to forgo this reward. He wanted to fulfill Mbenga’s final desire – the dying wish of that smiley fool who sacrificed his whole life fighting for!!!!

To personally slay Guarba.

If Sheyan didn’t guess wrong, the soulforce of the secondary persona, that represented Mbenga, had already been swallowed by the main persona, the Gundazan.

As such, by doing this, it would equate to helping the Gundazan to kill off Guarba. This situation would be just like a storyline character killing off another storyline character, he would not obtain a single benefit.

Only, Sheyan was committed to doing this, because his blood was after all, warm!! Since he could not revive a comrade he shared life and death with, he could at least fulfill his comrades’ final and greatest aspiration!!!

Benefits are eternal. Still, the guilt in one’s heart would never be appeased.

Sheyan immediately grabbed Guarba’s rotting left arm and blatantly hoisted him up. Then, he dragged him towards the coiled serpent statue on this bonfire plaza.

Only his thighs were left from his dissolving legs. As Guarba was dragged by Sheyan, a flooding trail of chartreuse colored fluids followed behind; emitting an assailing stench. It was like an ice cream that was left melting under the noonday sunshine of summer.

When he arrived before Mbenga, or perhaps, the Gundazan, Sheyan discovered he merely holding on to his final breath. His eyes were blank and devoid of life like a puppet, resembling that of a vegetable. Evidently, the main persona had also suffered grievous damages and all his courage to live on had been decimated.

Sheyan sighed as he observed him. “After this unlucky fella was tricked that he wasn’t the genuine inheritor of the Bayin bloodline but merely a bastard, such emotional turmoil is sufficient to crumble one’s mind. Being able to endure that is already rather remarkable…”

“Yet a cruel reality followed and utterly crumbled his fighting spirit….realizing that the ultimate secret only inherited by the Gundazan was a farce. Possibly, the old Gundazan also wasn’t aware the mechanism had such a delayed result, a lengthy process comparable to watching a short clip on dial-up access internet!! Clearly activating the ultimate Coiled Serpent statue mechanism, yet Guarba remained healthy and robust before inflicting mortal injuries to himself!”

It wasn’t hard to imagine the doting fatherly look the old Gundazan had while revealing such a monumental secret to him. A secret that solidified as the most precious treasure in his heart, one that fuelled his courage and motivation to carry on living.

However, when all was said and done, this heartfelt treasure unveiled a deceitful ‘mockery’ played by the Coiled Serpent. The emotional blow upon experiencing that would surely suffice to plunge one into ludicrousy.

What more, Guarba’s crimson blood eye similarly dealt spirit type damage that devastated his soul as well? Under such immense injuries, the spiritual, mental and physical collapse of the Gundazan was bound to happen.

Reflecting on all these, Sheyan could only express a little sympathy. Nevertheless, he held no sentiments for the Gundazan.

Sighing, he straightforwardly picked up a pike and slot it into the hand of this dying body. With a slight exertion, the pike thrust deep into the rotten festering left eye of Guarba; penetrating all the way into his brain!

The afternoon sun dimmed at this precise instance, as dark clouds churned by the horizon; as though a tempestuous storm was brewing around the corner.

Guarba’s lips split and curled into a faint smile after receiving that fatal strike. His cells disintegrated and dissolved away. The agony of such crumbling torment was truly unexplainably unbearable. Thus, to him, death wasn’t a torture but an escape; choosing to perish without a struggle.

Sheyan then received a list of notifications.

[ Hired warrior and guide, Mbenga, has slain high priest Guarba of the Ndipaya Sun Subtribe ]

[ Due to not playing a deciding factor in Guarba’s death, your battle spoils and rewards will be deemed according to the lowest standard ]

[ You receive 2 achievement points (+1 legend level) ]

[ You receive 2 free attribute points (+1 legend level) ]

[ You receive 100 soulforce bonus. Soulforce bonus can be used to claim spoils from the fallen Guarba as your reward ]

[ As you contributed a tiny portion in killing Guarba, only a single piece of Guarba’s private equipment would be offered as an option ]

[ Warning: After selection process, all leftover soulforce bonus will vanish ]

[ List of possible rewards: ]

[ Reward A: Receive 5 randomly allocated free attribute points ]

[ Details: Upon choosing this option, 5 attribute points will be randomly allocated and lasts permanently ]

[ Reward fee: 33 Soulforce bonus ]

[ Reward B: Receive 3 achievement points ]

[ Reward fee: 33 Soulforce bonus ]

[ Reward C: Unique Ndipaya Sun Subtribe Dried Herb 3 ]

[ Rarity: Dark blue ]

[ Origin: Ndipaya Tribe ]

[ Material: Herbs and animal feces ]

[ Usage requirement: none ]

[ Effect: Chewing for 60 seconds, apply half on the exterior and consume the other half. Chewing process recovers 120 HP and another effect pertains to expelling viruses or poison ]

[ Details: This herb medicine will induce a headache (physique -3), dizziness (evasion and accuracy -5%), inability to chant and cast spells for 60 seconds ]

[ Description: Unpalatable flavors of sour, roughness, bitty and spicy lies therein ]

[ Reward fee: 10 Soulforce bonus ]

[ Reward D: Sunmight Secret Herb ]

[ Rarity: Silver Storyline grade ]

[ Origin: Ndipaya Sun Subtribe ]

[ Material: Grinded powder of wilted ‘Stairway of the Sun’ leaves, and various shaman materials ]

[ Usage requirement: None ]

[ Effect: You can employ this herb medicine on creatures, equipments or items. Effects vary and are hard to predict. If used on a unique creature/item of this world, the success rate will increase substantially. You can check usage compatibility with your military authority ]

[ Description: This herb medicine may lead to your death. It is not recommended for your personal consumption ]

[ Reward fee: 33 Soulforce bonus ]

[ Reward E: Intact Crocodile Skin (condition: good) ]

[ Origin: Kijuju Death Marsh (Unique to the hidden world ‘Resident Evil, Beginnings’ ]

[ Rarity: Black ]

[ Type: Material ]

[ Usage effect: Produces excellent defence capabilities in forging equipments and favourable impression of opposite sex +1 ]

[ Details: It can be crafted in many other ways apart from leather bags ]

[ Secondary effect: Favourable impression of crocodiles -2 ]

[ Warning: Without sales, there will be no hunting ]

[ Usage requirement: None ]

[ Description: To captivate a woman’s heart or to save one’s own life ]

[ Reward fee: 15 Soulforce bonus ]

[ Reward F: Tri-atomizing Mist Compound Medicine prescription (condition: Excellent) ]

[ Origin: All Resident Evil worlds ]

[ Rarity: Silver Storyline ]

[ Effect: Fully restores HP and 50% of allies HP within a 3 meters radius. All virus or disease based effects within the radius of mist will be neutralized (effect takes Domain Authority precedence). Permanently increases user’s upper limit HP by 50 – 150 points, increase is calculated by user’s physique. This effect can only be effective on contestants for 4 times. After 4 times, the same object will only restore contestant’s HP. Cooldown: 1 hour ]

[ Details: You will not obtain this medicine. Instead, it can only be acquired by concocting identical green, red and yellow herb medicines. The concocting process may result in failure. It can be exchanged for 55,000 utility points ]

[ Secondary effect: None ]

[ Warning: The usage process may be interrupted, and possess a 50% chance of being destroyed. After destroyed, it will become invalid ]

[ Usage requirement: 3 seconds of time to spray this mist over yourself ]

[ Description: Ah, what luck and patience! Before finding that damnable yellow herb, you endured the temptation of first mixing the red and green herb together. This implies you secure another life under the siege of those frightening mutated freaks ]

[ Reward fee: 100 Soulforce bonus ]

[ Reward G: African Lion Shoulder Pelt ]

[ Type: Guarba’s special storyline equipment ]

[ Details: You do not possess adequate Soulforce bonus to exchange for it. You are unable to obtain detailed information ]

[ Reward fee: 150 Soulforce bonus ]

Chapter 662: Dark Gold Leech

This style of ‘purchasing’ rewards was rather foreign to Sheyan. Originally, he was enticed by that ‘Tri-atomizing Mist Compound Medicine’, but the 100 soulforce bonus fee left a sour taste in his mouth.

Eventually, after pondering a little, he chose the first two options – randomization of 5 free attribute points and 3 achievement points. Now, he was left with only 34 Soulforce bonus points.

Sadly, Sheyan wasn’t rewarded with his heart’s desire. Of the randomization of 5 free attribute points, 3 were allocated to perceptive sense while 2 to spirit……

Proceeding with the few available options left, Sheyan adopted a wastage minimization approach and selected the ‘Sunmight Secret Herb’. Mainly, this was due to Sheyan eyeing the grinded ‘Stairway of the Sun’ powder that comprised the herb.

More crucially, Sheyan possessed numerous unique items belonging to this world. For example, the ‘Deathmarsh Great Croc Soul’, the ‘Pandora Egg’, the set equipment and others. Presumably, the ‘Sunmight’ herb should be effective on them, just that the effects couldn’t be determined.

As expected, after obtaining the ‘Sunmight Secret Herb’, Sheyan received a pleasant surprise after checking through with his military authority; discovering that one of that item had soared to a 90% compatibility with the ‘Sunmight Secret Herb’. Indeed, it was the ‘Ndipaya Curing Leech’!

Although that item’s grade was merely dark-blue, after being infused with the ‘Sunmight Secret Herb’, it actually rose by 3 grades! Arriving at the dark-gold grade, its properties had undergone terrifying transformations.

[ Ndipaya Evolved Leech (special) ]

[ Origin: Kijuju Marshland ]

[ Rarity: Dark-gold ]

[ Carrying ability: Bloodbank – Placed this on the skin. The leech will draw vitality at a rate of 10 points / second. Future usage effects will vary according to the amount of vitality drawn ]

[ Details: Blood drawing process can only be disrupted after a certain mark. Otherwise, respective ability effect will not be activated ]

[ Details: The process of drawing blood is classified as friendly fire. Like a surgery, though it removes vitality, it is used for future healing. Therefore, target will not enter combat mode and will not disrupt other healing effects or equipments ]

[ Warning: Although blood drawing is classified as friendly fire. If not discontinued, user’s HP will similarly reach 0 and perish! ]

[ Warning: When drawing blood, any virus, curses or negative effects will equally be drawn with user’s vitality. When replenishing HP, it will release the same negative effects which last for the full duration ]

[ Warning: Leech contains micro-toxins. User will feel slight numbness, having evasion dropped by 3%. Duration of 60 minutes ]

[ Activatable ability: Refill – This ability will become activatable once ‘Ndipaya Evolved Leech’ draws 500 points of vitality. After activating ‘Refill’ ability, it will replenish 350 cc of blood into your body within 10 seconds, thereby restoring 350 HP ]

[ Activatable ability: Sucker – This ability will become activatable once ‘Ndipaya Evolved Leech’ draws 1,000 points of vitality ]

[ Details: Upon activating ‘Sucker’, the leech will adhere to your body, supplying host body with Glutamine and Asparagusamide essence. Your movement speed and attack speed will increase by 20%. Your attack will carry a converse ability attack, which lowers enemy movement and attack speed by 20%. Duration: 30 seconds ]

[ Warning: Within 60 minutes upon activating ‘Sucker’, any damage you receive will result in an additional blood loss effect. Blood loss effect persists for 15 seconds, and damage dealt is 15% of attack damage sustained ]

[ Warning: Within 60 minutes upon activating ‘Sucker’, any additional blood loss inducing effect sustained from enemy, will result in duration extended by 200% ]

[ Ultimate activatable ability: T-Virus Infection Outbreak – This ability will become activatable once ‘Ndipaya Evolved Leech’ draws 5,000 points of vitality! ]

[ Description: The progenitor virus hidden in the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ offers outstanding compatibility with leeches (Resident Evil Zero video game plot). Hence, this leech is a host of the T-Virus. Nevertheless, due to the impure nature of the secret herb, the T-Virus will remain dormant until the leech receives adequate blood nourishment ]

[ Details: Upon activating the ‘T-Virus Infection Outbreak’, the horrifying deadliness of the ‘Ndipaya Evolved Leech’ will be unleashed. Within 10 seconds, the leech will metamorphose into an unbeatable titan!! Unbeatable Titan Leech possesses 20,000 base HP, with bonus HP ]

[ Details: Bonus HP calculated as additional blood drew x 100. Meaning, after awakening this ability with 5,000 blood vitality, an additional 100 vitality drawn will grant this Unbeatable Titan Leech a bonus 10,000 HP ]

[ Details: After metamorphosing into a T-Virus Infected Creature, the ‘Ndipaya Evolved Leech’ will be deemed as a contestant, and be limited by the 40% damage regulation when attacking contestants ]

[ Details: Offence type classified as AoE mucus splash damage, delivering damages to all within a 5 meters radius. Attack equivalent to 50% of host offense power. Moreover, its attack carries an obnoxious sticky ability, lowering movement speed of enemy by 50%. Duration: 10 seconds ]

[ Details: Within 60 minutes of receiving an attack by the Unbeatable Titan Leech, enemy who is inflicted with any blood loss effect will have its duration extended by 200% ]

[ This ultimate ability, ‘T-Virus Infection Outbreak Awakening’, will last for 30 minutes or until leech’s HP is exhausted. Once the leech is slain, it can only be revived back in the nightmare realm. Reviving fee: 10,000 utility points + world difficulty factors ]

Sheyan didn’t anticipate that his ‘Ndipaya Curing Leech (special)’ actually upgraded to a dark gold grade. To him, acquiring another silver storyline grade item would already be pretty remarkable, much less to say of a grade higher.

Yet, he wasn’t aware that this was a fortune of coincidences! In the Resident Evil plot, James Marcus of the Umbrella Corp managed to discover the compatibility between the ancient progenitor virus and leeches. As a result, he ultimately created a new strain and named it ‘Tyrant’, which is the acronym for the T-Virus. Furthermore, he even created a formidable vile abomination known as the Queen Leech!

After upgrading to the dark gold grade, the most outstanding ability of the ‘Ndipaya Evolved Leech’ was its ultimate activatable ability – ‘T-Virus Infection Outbreak’.

Though its offensive might may not be considered high, its casual splash damage was disgustingly potent. Don’t even mention its vile effects towards any blood loss negative effect. One could simply imagine, how splendid this leech’s capability would be, be it offensive, defensive or even escaping for one’s life.

Of course, the most ridiculous conditions applied to its user, which was allowing the leech to draw one’s vitality. Under normal circumstances, activating its first or second ability wouldn’t be a huge problem. But to allow it to persistently draw 5,000 vitality, with Sheyan’s present state, he would’ve to prepare an abundance of replenishments!

After all, Sheyan’s current HP was a sliver short of a thousand. Even with his ‘Honorary Medicines’ and ‘Gloryheal’, he could at most allow the leech to draw 2,500 HP. As for the following amount, he would have to rely on various food replenishments and others…..that would cost a massive fortune! Speaking in perspective of the realm, it would minimally cost over 50,000 utility points.

To suppress such extravagant expenditure, Sheyan reckoned he would need to promote to an official Growth-hunter first.

After examining his profits, Sheyan finally recovered from the adrenaline. Following that, he suddenly realized that something didn’t add up. After contemplating while pacing around, he suddenly realized.

“How did I even obtain rewards from killing Guarba????”

“Could it be a special property of this hidden world? But that doesn’t make sense…” Suddenly, Sheyan recalled one of the nightmare imprint’s notification and his eyes immediately popped widely!

“Your hired warrior and guide, Mbenga, has slain high priest Guarba of the Ndipaya Sun Subtribe”

“This…? Could it be, after the Gundazan triggered the mechanism….when he realized he was deceived and consecutively suffered Guarba’s devastating wrath……he completely lost all will to live and his soul persona dissipated away? Therefore, with the fraction of the secondary persona, Mbenga, remaining, the realm naturally determined the body as Mbenga’s!!!!”

Thinking of that, Sheyan hastily steamrolled forward with wild delight. Then, he fished out his soul equipment, ‘Endless Spirited Vodka’, and poured two mouthfuls into Mbenga’s mouth.

Despite that, the vodka streamed out from the corners of his mouth and onto the floor. If not for a sliver of breath emitting out of his nostrils, Sheyan would’ve believed Mbenga was completely dead.

“Damn it, wake up!” Sheyan exclaimed as he anxiously nudged Mbenga’s neck. “You idiot, open your eyes idiot. The one whom you wished to kill has already been personally slain by you! You must see it for yourself before you die!”

Chapter 663: Words of the past

However, Sheyan’s nudges were futile. Mbenga’s lifeless eyes remained dull and his body limp. One could describe his condition as akin to gossamer, or a flickering candle in the wind, extinguishable at any second.

“Ahhhhh!” Sheyan couldn’t resist himself from slapping Mbenga’s face, as 5 clear fingerprints formed. Blood trickled slowly out Mbenga’s nose as Sheyan roared furiously.

“You can’t die yet! Not until you see this for yourself!”

Unbeknownst why, while he was roared furiously, his nose turned sour and turbulent emotions flooded his chest. At this moment, he subconsciously recalled that stormy night, when he was pursued to the brink of desperation right before he entered the nightmare realm.

Without the fate of encountering the nightmare realm, he would be just like Mbenga; carrying a deep-seated unwillingness as he departed from the world…

Sheyan forcefully propped up Mbenga’s nose and drowned the ‘Endless Spirited Vodka’ down his throat. Though his mouth overflowed with vodka, Sheyan could clearly notice Mbenga’s Adam’s apple throbbing slightly. That indicated Mbenga had at least drank down a mouth of ‘Endless Spirited Vodka’, and perhaps, a tiny portion of his HP would be swiftly restored!

Gradually, Mbenga’s lifeless pupils contracted, followed by a slight twitch of his finger. Finally, he observed Sheyan with clarity and cast his trademark silly smirk

“You……you’ve obtained the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ ?”

Sheyan’s eyes heated up. Even with his current condition, Mbenga was still concerned about him acquiring the ‘Stairway of the Sun’! Sheyan sighed sentimentally and earnestly answered.

“You did it, Mbenga, you did it. You personally killed Guarba and avenged your clansmen! Look!”

Listening to his words, Mbenga became momentarily dumbstruck. Sheyan then dragged him over and supported his shoulder up, allowing him to personally witness the corpse of the dead Guarba.

“Yes, you did, it! You ended him with a single stab!”

Dang clank! A gently metallic ringing resounded, as Mbenga subconsciously dropped his pike to the ground.

All of a sudden, a lightning jolted through the sky. The floodgates of torrential rain finally poured down. Mbenga panted heavily as he lifted his face towards the sky. His closed eyes brimmed with water droplets; who could tell, whether it was rainwater or tears….

“Kuria…”

His thick lips mouthed out a syllable. Scenes of the past rapidly flashed through his mind.

A blessed family. An adorable child. A woman he secretly fell for. Mindless massacre, cruel tortures to the death as his hair stood in anger. A hundred heads rupturing in unison, a despairingly sorrowful sight to unleash a soul-shattering curse. The anguish of his soul being ripped asunder…one by one, till the concluding finale of today.

“Thank you!”

Two words that bore the meanings of joy, anger, and sorrow in life. Mbenga struggled free from Sheyan’s embrace and staggered forward. Eventually, he gently leaned against the Coiled Serpent Statue. Though his chest undulated violently, his face displayed peace and serenity; a sentiment of being relieved from an immense burden.

“I’m finally freed. My friend, thank you for fulfilling my lifelong wish. It is time for me to reunite with my family. Therefore, my heart’s, no, the greatest secret of Port Qom and the Coiled Serpent tribe shall belong to you. My only recompense to you…”

A minute later, beneath the giant Coiled Serpent statue, Mbenga/Gundazan breathed his last.

Aged 37, he died in peace with a gentle smile on his face. Like a slumbering reverie, death, to Mbenga who shouldered far more than he could, was an escape.

Sheyan heaved a despondently deep sigh. He stood up but his countenance was riddled with astonishment.

“The truth…..was actually like that!! If not for Mbenga still retaining a fragment of Gundazan’s memories, then……even I would find it absolutely impossible to believe that the truth I’ve been painstakingly looking for, actually lies in the beginning!”

The pouring rain showered down with immeasurable melancholy, seeking to drown out the whole earth; painting an illusion of the wet season arriving prematurely.

At present, Sheyan smeared his body with the ‘Tigfog’ aura masking herb medicine again. With his arm fully rejuvenated and with the aid of his ‘+7 West’, climbing back up the cliff of this Kingdom of ruins wasn’t an arduous affair. While traversing the labyrinth of tunnels, due to the heavy siege of mutated beasts recently, the grounds polluted with blood and fluids were the best indicators.

Along the way, Sheyan cleverly evaded zones still plagued with intense fighting. Then, he finally drilled his way out through a hole dug opened by a certain biohazard creature. If his conjecture wasn’t wrong, he had returned to the misty inner core reaches.

All of a sudden, a tremendous threat surged towards him from the side. His senses tightened as he immediately darted to the side while covering his head with his arms.

Boom! A sonorous reverberated resonated. A perfectly intact archaic wall was smashed into smithereens, as bulks of rock fragments scattered about with dust soaring up.

A scarlet vile Licker tyrannically smashed a Sun subtribe guardian to the ground.

Its monstrous strength evidently widely surpassed this Sun subtribe guardian. Its terrifying razor-sharp claws inched down bit by bit. The sight of its skinless flesh was truly petrifying. It seemed as though within any second, it would succeed in severing the carotid artery of its foe, allowing warmth and wondrous blood juices to gush out.

Sheyan recalled about the Sun subtribe guardians he saw back at the bonfire plaza. An extremely domineering bunch, not one bit inferior to Mbenga.

In the face of his opponent’s descending threat, that Sun subtribe guardian issued a beast-like snarl. His head crooked above his shoulders, as his muscles swelled like rocks. Then, his entire body deformed slightly and expanded. Evidently, he should be a trusted aide of Guarba, one that had touched upon the secrets of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’.

His eyes were bloodshot as he pummeled his wooden shield forward. After obtaining a tiny buffer, he immediately rolled away, before pulling out a sharpened single-handed stone hatchet from his waist. With a loud cry, he lunged forward and viciously hacked the Licker’s exposed brains!

A Licker’s weakest point was its head. With the decomposed state of its skull, its brains were mostly exposed to the atmosphere. In addition to the numerous injuries it sustained earlier on during battle, it released a mournful bellow. Brain pulp and tissues splattered everywhere like tofu, as ash-grey substances splashed against Sheyan’s face. A piercing foul stench almost made Sheyan vomit.

Knowing the Licker’s brain carried the highest concentration of toxins, Sheyan naturally didn’t dare to leave such substances on his face. He immediately picked up stony fragments and scrubbed these incomparably vile substances off his face.

The stubborn vitality of a Licker was truly astounding. Right before it perished, it unexpectedly spat out its enormous tongue towards the Sun subtribe guardian.

The Licker’s tongue was its most lethal offense, having no equal. Under the accelerated stimulation of its arteries, that enormous tongue surpassed the speed of a bullet. Only a red flash could be seen, before a large hole punctured through the Sun subtribe guardian. The enormous tongue then rolled back with a large chunk of mangled flesh.

The barbaric nature of this Sun subtribe guardian flared up upon receiving such a grave wound. With a frenzied howl, he pounced towards the Licker. Locking its neck with his brutishly thick arms, the guardian ruthlessly pulled!

Crack! The freak’s neck was instantly twisted and slouched to one side. One could observe few protrusions of its spinal column. Its enormous and terrifying tongue dangled down sluggishly, amidst the intensified convulsions of this freak. Evidently, it no longer had any chance of surviving.

But it didn’t stop there. The injured Sun subtribe guardian was utterly berserk, as he hacked his stone hatchet wildly onto the Licker’s brains. Blood and brain juice splattered everywhere, and he only ceased when most of its brain had been minced.

Still, he couldn’t be blamed for such an enraged insanity. This Licker had just butchered two of his clansmen and heavily wounded him. Since then, his vendetta for vengeance had scaled to a reckless, frenzied state.

After venting his anger, this Sun subtribe guardian mounted the Licker and gasped heavily for breath.

Suddenly, he swung his gaze towards Sheyan’s direction. Sheyan was instantly stunned. He was already bent on leaving this place, yet that warrior just had to start brawling with a Licker and obstruct his path. Moreover, the stern patrolling of other Ndipaya guardians make it exceedingly difficult for him to retreat either.

The nostrils of this Sun subtribe guardian twitched a little. Gradually, his crestfallen eyes regained an unparalleled wariness. His eyes turned bloodshot again

Sheyan immediately perceived that though he hadn’t tested the 3 meters limit of the herb medicine, the splashing of Licker’s brain matter onto him, and his subsequent actions had probably revealed his location.

Exhibiting extreme decisiveness, he immediately brandished ‘Ambition’ at the sight of abnormality. After triggering ‘Rum & Songs’ and stunning him for 2 seconds, Sheyan sprinted wildly to escape.

Meanwhile, he tossed behind a flask of agility curse-mix, as mild greenish fumes enveloped the battlefield behind him.

Chapter 664: Carcass of the crimson giant Boss Licker

Even though this Sun subtribe guardian was merely an average fighter, he absolutely wasn’t someone Sheyan could rival with his current state. Besides, even if the disparity between both parties were 2 tiers in a realm, phrasing in the perspective of Xuanhuan novels, a genius Sword Master would still fall short of challenging the weakest Sword Saint. In terms of Xianxia novels, an earthly cultivator can only run in the face of a measly, weak thunder immortal.

Fortunately, this Sun subtribe guardian had just suffered an ‘arrow to his knee’. With a major portion of his mobility being impeded by that, the limping guardian couldn’t catch up to Sheyan even in an hour.

Nevertheless, Sheyan couldn’t shrug him off either within a short span of time. Most critically, the brain substances of the Licker were truly repulsive. Even after being wiped off, their rich odor permeated out distinctly, and without a good rinsing, it served as an illuminating guide to any foe.

While fleeing ahead, Sheyan concurrently observed the man that was pursuing him. The veins on the guardian’s neck had swelled thickly, drilling deep into his body like tree roots. His eyes were thickly bloodshot and the sound of violent breathing could be vividly heard. A normal individual could never possibly reach such a berserking state. Clearly, the virus infection plaguing his body was worsening disastrously.

All of a sudden, Sheyan felt a gust of wind blowing into his face ahead; a cooling and moisturizing sensation. Knowing that he should’ve made it to the misty zone of the inner reaches, his spirit was instantly aroused.

The terrain of the inner reaches was complex and vast, polluted with multitudes of mutated abominations. Meaning it would be easy to escape and hide. As long as he could find a place, shrugging off his relentless pursuer would be extremely possible.

A faint glimmer pervaded through the dense strands of vines ahead. Evidently, a tunnel exit was right ahead. Hearing the sounds of heavy panting crescendoing behind him, Sheyan reflexively channeled more strength to his feet. Covering his head with both arms, he bashed through the tunnel exit with an anguished roar.

As it turns out, this exit was a cliff of over 20 meters in high!

Upon bashing out, Sheyan instantly understood he was in deep shit when his feet landed on emptiness. With the low visibility of the region, he could only see a dark shadow patch beneath; unknown if it was vegetation of rocks, he could only inhale deeply as he fell.

An acute pain shot up his legs as he crashed down, with muddy water splashing up. Sheyan immediately executed to a roll to cushion his fall.

Yet after his fall, Sheyan secretly rejoiced. The feeling of his leg distinctly told him that he had landed on a soft muddy marsh, with growing reeds everywhere. Though that was so, his legs still suffered inevitable injuries. And the muddy water had soared tremendously upon the impact, raining down in large brown droplets and thoroughly drenching him wet.

Quickly after, a muffled groan echoed from behind. Evidently, that Sun subtribe guardian had similarly leaped down. However, due to his earlier leg injury and the impact from the fall, when he landed onto the swampy ground, the damage he received was akin to adding hail in the snow.

Vividly seen, the leg bones of his wounded leg had twisted grotesquely. Such a fracture wasn’t that simple and probably had pierced deep into his flesh. Nevertheless, that Sun subtribe guardian preserved in his raging howls and hobbled towards Sheyan!

Noteworthily, the pain limitations for this world was set to zero. As such, Sheyan was still affected by the pain, while that berserking guardian seemed to have become numb to all senses. After pursuing and fleeing for 200 meters, they were both soaked like drowned rats by the torrents of rain. Panting with violent ferocity, Sheyan gulped down endless mouthfuls of rainwater.

Suddenly, the Sun subtribe guardian pursuing Sheyan behind released a shrilling scream!

Sheyan immediately looked behind, and to his horror, the guardian’s eyes were popping out with wisps of blood. Moreover, he had seemingly drawn an unknown strength, which supplemented a thriving impetuous to steamroll towards Sheyan.

Sadly, that guardian was now like a headless housefly. Bang! He collided straight into a large boulder that Sheyan had darted behind! Upon collision, a huge portion of the boulder crumbled with rock fragments spraying everywhere. In contrast, the guardian instantly bounced back upon impact; with his face flowing with blood, he sprawled to the ground.

Not long later, the Sun subtribe guardian stood up again. One could clearly see two thin mangled flesh dangling down from both his ruptured eyes. One eyeball was still suspended and streaming with blood, but was instantly rinsed by the torrential rain.

This Sun subtribe warrior stood rigidly where he was with a widened mouth; his white teeth additional distinct in contrast to the oozing maroonish blood. From the depths of his throat, transmitted strange pulses of snarls.

Firstly, was a drawn out but deep croak, followed by an enraged and sonorous snarl. Next, came a plaintive groan. The symphony of sounds was consecutive, piercing, barbarous and appalling. A remote deathliness and a tinge of surreptitious overwhelmed the entire place.

Unbeknownst why, this guardian warrior maintained his tight grip onto his stone hatchet, where the webbing between his fingers exhibited a melancholic paleness.

All of a sudden, a gentle and light ‘pu~’ sound drifted out from the guardian’s body. It was a soft yet melodious sound, seemingly lingering around the void briefly before dispersing away.

The guardian’s face instantly botched with paleness, and his jaws widened extremely from the agony; blood oozed down the corner of his lips. Sheyan could clearly observe – most of his soaked skin had seemingly been lacerated, revealing bright red chunks of muscles and flesh. Soon after, an eerie rib pierced out and shot out! Knocking against the boulder, the rib landed and bounced several times on the ground, before rolling and finally halted.

Soon after, the bones of this Sun subtribe guardian neatly jabbed out the surface like organizing an extravagant banquet. With insurmountable intensity, they broke free from the positions that they ought to reside in.

Finally, only an astounding sight of a body drilled with thousands of holes remained, before slumping to the ground like a tattered sackcloth; flooded with warm blood. Shockingly, the remnants of flesh continued convulsing; gently at first, before transforming like a frightened centipede attempting to bite and screw its surroundings!

The entire sensation felt as though the skeleton of this Sun subtribe warrior had rebelled against him simultaneously, making a frenzied getaway from his body!

Sheyan was utterly flabbergasted as he witnessed this scene. Still, time was tight and he proceeded to escape deeper into the misty inner reaches in deep thoughts.

At present, Sheyan was all alone. Moreover, after rinsing and reapplying the herb medicine, he successfully masqueraded away his scent. Thus, he displayed zero fear while advancing.

Although Sheyan was extremely clear that every second he stayed was equivalent to burning money away, there was still one thing he had to do; one that he couldn’t not do.

Because, if he didn’t accomplish this, then the true profits to gain in this world would effectively shrink by half!

This wasn’t mere frightening words to scare people. Besides, this entire affair had been incredibly outrageous to begin with. If not for Mbenga revealing the final secret after having his lifelong aspiration fulfilled and being freed from all grievances, Sheyan wouldn’t have been able to reach this conclusion even if he exhausted all his brain juices.

“Eh….what’s that ahead?” As Sheyan cautiously stealth through the gloomy visibility in the pouring rain, he discovered an abrupt trace of viscous crimson fluid. Hasting his footsteps forward, he suddenly caught a whiff of an unbearably foul stench. There was surely a deceased creature right ahead.

Sheyan cautiously crawled up a boulder and wiped the flooding rainwater off his eyes. When his blurry image cleared up, Sheyan instantly heaved a breath of chilling air.

On the path ahead, was shockingly a terrifying beast the size of a tiny hill.

It was the gigantuous, crimson blood Boss Licker!

Its appearance was exceedingly sinister. Its tongue stretched out to ancient lengths, that breathing could be considered a luxurious affair. One of its horrifying claws was strapped to its throat, which had been ripped into a mutilated mess.

Under the pouring rain, this Boss Licker was slowly dissolving, with some decomposed areas already exposing bones.

Not a single trace of life could be discovered on its body, much less to say of its earlier dreadful pressure. Undoubtedly, this creature that could be associated with the likes of Kraken Paul, had perished.

No one would feel fear from a clump of rotting flesh, even if this clump of rotting flesh had been unrivaled under the heavens before, possessing boundless might.

Sheyan understood this extremely clearly; this wasn’t some illusion or that his perceptive sense was being misled. The Licker was like a human, while Sheyan an ant that could be trampled to death easily. A human wouldn’t need to pull a double bluff strategy to deal with a single ant.

Observing that humongous dissolving carcass, Sheyan slowly trudged forward. As he pinched forth with his hand, his fingers feedbacked a peculiar tactile sensation. It was akin to touching a fresh squid or the cap of a mushroom. A sticky sap adhered to his fingertips.

Sheyan’s heart was still brimming with doubts. According to logic, this creature existed at the apex of the food chain. Probably even with every Ndipaya Kingdom Guardian allying together, they would still fail to fatally wound and slay this beast.

However, how did it die here? Looking at its current state, the surrounding environment still retained its original feel – a feeling of suffocating insanity.

“Just what kind of invincible existence….can execute a slaughterer as though it was invisible?”

Chapter 665: Part of the set

As Sheyan proceeded through the misty inner reaches, he consecutively discovered more carcasses of mutated creatures. Some were boss tier existences, with claws and fangs that displayed horrifying malevolence.

However, their cause of death remained exceedingly bewildering – surroundings without a trace of intensive, bitter wrestling. Seemingly, the possibility of them committing suicide was higher than them being murdered.

As he continued venturing forward, surviving mutated creatures started surfacing but all appeared extremely dispirited. Moreover, they looked as if they were afraid of the falling rain, attempting their utmost to take shelter; as though the rainwater contained boundless destruction and death.

As he observed these scenes, Sheyan was suddenly enlightened.

“I’m afraid these odd phenomena are linked to the battle at the Bonfire Plaza, back when the Gundazan triggered the ancient mechanism of the Coiled Serpent Statue to deal with the terrifyingly redoubtable Guarba; thereby releasing the ultimate curse, ‘the coiled serpent god power to deprive’, of a wise Gundazan of the past. Guarba was the first sacrifice of this curse.”

“From the current situation, it seems like this fatally lethal curse, perhaps mysterious dust or gas, has dispersed throughout the Kijuju Inner Reaches. As such, the more severely affected a creature is by the progenitor virus of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, the greater the curse will affect it. The weaker the virus is infecting the creature, the tinier the effect.”

To the Ndipaya Tribe Gundazan, this ultimate curse was a double-edged sword. Bear this in mind, even the elders and priests similarly possessed power obtained from the ‘Stairway of the Sun’. Merely, they somehow retained their intellect and control due to the coiled serpent god’s blessing. Without a doubt, they would similarly suffer deadly consequences under the curse…..

As a result, the elites of the Ndipaya Tribe, along with those main mutated creatures, would perish within this torrential downpour.

Traversing through the misty inner reaches, Sheyan wasn’t fleeing in disarray like a headless housefly. Instead, he was relying on his memory of that sandbox, and heading towards the westernmost village.

That village appeared like a crucial village for the Coiled Serpent subtribe, only overcome by the besiegement of biohazard abominations at the final parts of the ancient war. It was due to the fall of that village, that the mutually hostile Sun subtribe and the Coiled Serpent subtribe finally united against a tribe exterminating adversity.

The reason Sheyan was heading there, was to verify the authenticity of Mbenga’s dying words. After suppressing the host Gundazan for many years, Mbenga inevitably possessed fragments of his memory as well.

Sheyan definitely believed Mbenga, yet he couldn’t trust if that memory was purposely devised by Gundazan as a snare.

The interior of the abandoned village was a ruined heap of destruction. An enormous mutated worm had died on the grand plaza of this village, where half of its body had been corroded away by the rain; discharging out a foul piercing stench.

After inspecting and confirming that worm was truly dead, Sheyan followed Mbenga’s advice and arrived before the tiniest hut, right beside the largest, magnificent grand hall.

A similar bewitching sculpture of a crudely crafted serpent-headed man had been erected here. Sheyan marched ten steps according to the direction pointed by the sculpture’s stuck out demonic tongue. Then, he squatted and began fumbling around the muddy ground. Very quickly, he located a ring handle.

This ring handle was weaved with straw; though it was a special kind of straw, it was long decomposed. Sheyan quickly thought of a way to pull this ring handle, and finally triggered the mechanism involved.

Following that, he returned to the front of the serpent-headed demonic sculpture. Upon forcibly hugging it and nudging, a stone slab beside abruptly crumbled. Instantly, an exquisite massive chest was raised up. The chest was engraved with patterns of coiled serpents.

While Sheyan was still pondering silently, the chest’s lid suddenly swung opened! It seemed like some Coiled Serpent subtribe members had sneakily returned, and helped themselves to the contents first hand.

Witnessing this situation, Sheyan hastily raced forward for a careful inspection. Instantly, he heaved a huge sigh of relief. Although the chest’s interior was utterly barren, the bottom layer was perfectly intact. According to Mbenga, the contents placed openly in the chest were mere disguises. On the contrary, the secret bottom layer beneath housed the genuine quintessence.

With a fist, Sheyan pounded down onto the bottom layer of the chest. As thick, solid wood shards splintered out, a dark-green brilliance radiated against his face.

Sucking in a breath of chilling air, Sheyan understood that Mbenga truly treated him kindly. The first dying secret he revealed, actually produced the second equipment of the Ndipaya August set!!

[ Ndipaya Marshcrow August Gloves ]

[ Origin: Resident Evil, Origins (hidden world) ]

[ Equipment rarity: Dark- Green (Set 2/3) ]

[ Material: Striped Ebony, Marshcrow Ashes, Frost Reed, Human Blood and Modified Dust ]

[ Addons: None ]

[ Equipment position: Arm and wrist ]

[ Equipment type: gloves ]

[ Warning: To display the full power of this equipment, the wielder’s DNA must be analyzed. Soul binding will occur upon equipping, causing this equipment to be untradable ]

[ Weight: 0.4 kg ]

[ Equipment usage requirement: Strength 30 points, Intelligence 40 points, spirit 40 points and level 8 ‘Basic Meditation’ ability ]

[ Equipment usage requirement: 10% of maximum MP will be used to wield the gloves, MP will be returned after unequipping it ]

[ Durability: 1/30 (Nearly broken, please repair it) ]

[ Property: Before entering combat, the spirit of the gloves will continue absorbing energies from the atmosphere, granting additional 25% damage during the first attack ]

[ Details: Requires 120 seconds to fully absorb energies. During this process, MP will be deducted at a rate of 2 points / second until energies are fully absorbed ]

[ Property: Ndipaya forged equipment share the same flaw of being too excessively heavy. When wielding this equipment, strength and perceptive sense will simultaneously decrease by 3 points ]

[ Ability: Spirit Marshcrow – When dealing damage to opponents, the spirit of the gloves will acquire strength from the opponent’s agony. After accumulating 6 times of damage to the opponent, the Spirit Marshcrow of the gloves will materialize; soaring out and dealing a damage of (MP x 5) to the opponent. Includes a chance of infecting opponent with the ‘Initial Stage Septicaemia’ virus ]

[ Detail: Unleashing the Spirit Marshcrow will cost 8% of your maximum MP ]

[ Property: Intelligence +1, Spirit +1, Physique +3 ]

[ Characteristics: Crude – The crude craftsmanship of the Ndipaya natives has determined its vulnerability. Upon receiving a direct blow from the enemy, 50% chance of loss of durability doubling ]

[ Characteristics: Rare – This mask is extremely rare and also originates from a hidden world. Repairing it would require exceedingly precious materials. Therefore, to repair it in the realm, apart from paying an excess of 500% of normal repairing fee, one still has to fork up some achievement points! ]

[ Set ability: Marsh Decay – when dealing damage to the opponent, there’s a fixed chance of transforming your nearby surroundings into the environment of the Kijuju Marshland. Reduces movement speed and includes a chance of infection with various pestilences ]

[ Set ability: ? ? ? ? (Obtain the full Ndipaya August set to initiate this property) ]

[ Description: This is a pair of gloves forged personally by an ancient Gundazan. The Gundazan’s beloved pet was a crow of the Kijuju Marshland. Before the crow’s longevity expired, that ancient Gundazan infused its horcrux into a pair of forged gloves; ensuring communion with his beloved pet. Therefore, even if the spirit Marshcrow acknowledges you as master, you’d better place this item in an environment favored by the crow during non-combat. Otherwise, its durability may plunge persistently ]

Sheyan imploded with joy from acquiring this dark-green set equipment, yet a heartache soon followed! This equipment’s durability had long been diminished, signifying that it could only be utilized after mending it….

Naturally, Sheyan wouldn’t opt to repair it, because it meant spending 500% of repairing fees plus some incomparably precious achievement points!! Moreover, even if he wanted to sell it off, one couldn’t possibly sell a nearly broken object, right?

At present, the rain was gradually subsiding. One could distinctly notice that the mist had thinned substantially. Sheyan didn’t meet with any mishaps as he travelled cautiously. In order to save time, he didn’t backtrack to the secret underground river he came from. Instead, he followed his memory of the sandbox topography, and finally reached the very first village; the place he encountered those mutated Arachnidacrabs.

The wreckages of the previous battle remained distinctly apparent, prompting Sheyan to subconsciously reminisce about Mbenga; the man he fought shoulder to shoulder when venturing deep into the strange and mystical hinterland. Risking life and limb as they uncovered the deepest abyss of mystery.

Yet now…..only he remained, and an unbearably forlorn heartache.

Soon, he returned to the outer reaches of the Kijuju Marshland. Strangely, the rain hadn’t reached the outer region, and the place was still moist and swelteringly warm.

At this moment, he recalled about an unaccomplished milestone – to kill 6 different biohazard mutated creatures.

Right now, Sheyan had slain 5 different types – the biohazard dog, Plaga Host, Licker, Deathmarsh Great Crocodile and the Mutated Arachnidacrab.

After searching around the Kijuju Marshland for a short while, he found a flock of red-eyed ravens. To his surprise, those ravens possessed relatively high HP even though they were aerial creatures. Furthermore, they would flee upon being assailed. If Mogensha was here, then it wouldn’t be an issue at all. However, it was a rather thorny task for a single Sheyan.

During the hunting process, he frightened off two flocks of these decomposing ravens. Only until the third flock, did he luckily strike an explosive strike and eliminate one raven.

Chapter 666: Shredding history’s falsehood

Counting up, Sheyan did expend a relatively long amount of time to hunt down a single raven. Fortunately, the staying fee of the outer reaches was merely 1,000 utility points per hour. Truthfully speaking, such a value still wasn’t considered cheap. Nevertheless, after experiencing a cleansing of 10,000 utility points per hour in the innermost reaches, the current valuation could be considered charity.

Upon accomplishing his milestone, Sheyan obtained a title known as ‘Marsh Cleanser’. The property of equipping the title creates a probability of inflicting 10 – 20 points of true damage to mutated creatures (includes demonized creatures, vampires etc). Obviously, such a title was exceedingly beneficial for gunmen with rapid attack speed, whereas for Sheyan, it was relatively puny. Moreover, advancing this title would be seemingly far in the indefinite future.

The entire raven hunting affair wasted 2 hours of time. Still, Sheyan originally wanted to wait till dusk. Hence, he didn’t mind squandering these hours.

Back in the primitive jungle. As the sun slipped beneath the earth’s horizon, the night would soon descend swiftly and sharply.

Although Sheyan had been waiting, he wasn’t idling as well. Not only did he clear up a basketball sized plot of land in the jungle, he had started chopping down trees and piling up timber. If not for him being a contestant, accomplishing these task within such a short span would be impossible.

The evening sky projected an incandescent blazing cloud of fog. Sheyan proceeded to ignite a massive bonfire with the dried wood and leaves he gathered. A fiery blaze combusted to over 10 meters tall, clamorously raging as its heatwave threatened the surroundings.

Due to the majority of timber used being fresh, the blaze discharged exceedingly dense black fumes, churning up towards the fiery red sky. With the stale air, the pillar of smoke failed to disperse even after rising into the air. Probably, individuals from hundreds of li away could behold this sight.

Sheyan sat by the bonfire and shut his eyes; seemingly peacefully awaiting something, as he willfully allowed time to trickle away.

“Ah, truly invigorating….I shall soon shred apart the falsehood of history.”

The sky gradually darkened as rick darkness enveloped the corners of this primitive jungle. In areas where the fiery irradiation failed to illuminate, famished wild beast seemed to be lurking and prying around.

Still, the bonfire raged on. Its scorching heat roasting the bottommost layer of firewood dry, while emitting crackling sounds; wood changed from brown to charred black.

Allured by the fiery brilliance, gigantic regiments of mosquitoes and bugs successively lunged forward. The choruses of myriad insects exuberated an abundance of life within the place.

From afar, a sudden clear rustling echoed from a shrub. That was the sound of someone approaching while shoving aside vegetation.

Sheyan turned to gaze into the darkness.

A few minutes later, a wrinkled old face that resembled crisscrossed ravines appeared before Sheyan’s eyes.

Indeed, this was the chief of Port Qom – Old Aram.

His face was still painted with greasy colors, and his head adorned with multicolored ornaments. In his hands, was still that bizarre serpent staff. He looked exactly the same as when Sheyan first saw him.

However, Old Aram’s face was radiating brightly in contrast to the darkness; giving off an illusion of a combusting flame, filled with added dignity.

Sheyan quietly stood before him. Like an archaic stone statue, his silhouette resembled a sharp hatchet.

“How did you know about this contacting method?? Where’s Mbenga?” Old Aram suspiciously scanned around before asking with a raspy voice.

Sheyan observed the old head and replied indifferently.

“He’s dead. That thorn in the flesh will never appear before you ever again.”

In this precise instant, Sheyan suddenly felt a gale assailing his face! Right in this incomparably sweltering jungle, the air had started surging rapidly causing Sheyan to feel suffocated! Yet clearly, the surrounding tree leaves remained stagnant. Where exactly was the wind coming from?

Sheyan soon discovered, it wasn’t that the air was surging in his face but that he was the object of motion!

The truth of this suffocating sensation was this – the eyes of that crooked old head abruptly flickered with an enraged blaze and barreled towards Sheyan in an instant. Then, he gripped Sheyan’s neck, and single-handedly lifting him up before pinning him against a massive, sturdy tree!

Such was the vast disparity between their strength, so much so that Sheyan could even distinctly feel the faint vibrations of the tree and the choking sensation of his neck.

Old Aram’s hands trembled excessively, unknown if it was because of Mbenga’s death or Sheyan’s provoking statement. Although Sheyan’s life was in his hands, he scoffed nonchalantly.

“I know you’re strong……without hidden trumps, how would you’ve escaped from that ghastly nightmare-like place? Aren’t I right? That deep down your heart, Mbenga had died years ago! In your heart, you’ve always regarded the inheritor of the Coiled Serpent tribe as your living nightmare! Not willing to even glance at his face, else the painful memories would surface from the depths of your heart!”

“Therefore, you excluded and shunned him. Your entire tribe marginalized him. Until the day he left the tribe..only when he finally disappeared from your life forever, do you understand…..both your fates have long been deeply engraved within each other!!”

“AHHHHHH!!!” Old Aram’s eyes turned red as he ferociously flung Sheyan to the ground. The 180 cm and 86 kg Sheyan was flung a dozen meter like he was a tiny pebble, before crashing and rolling several rounds.

After a brief while, he finally crawled back up while panting with an agonized expression. Even with his 49 points of strength, he couldn’t retaliate even one bit!!

Yet when Old Aram’s despondent self filled Sheyan’s sight, it prompted his lips to curl into a cold smirk.

“Let me pause to calculate. In this era of food scarcity, rampant viruses and ferocious wild beasts roaming covetously around, the lifespan of an African male wouldn’t be much. Probably 40 plus years? Perhaps your father was the chief and prolonged his life with certain special methods, only contracting a terminal illness at the age of 50. Hence, your true age should be roughly 35 now, but…..just take a look at yourself, wrinkled with age, worse than your father before he died! It must’ve been tough, to carry the burdens and anguish alone in your heart, to deteriorate swifter than an old man.”

As Old Aram listened to Sheyan’s words, he quietly gazed into the massive bonfire; seemingly appreciating the dancing flickers of the flame. Then, he answered with an astringent tone.

“Tell me, how did he die?”

Instead, Sheyan returned an irrelevant answer.

“He has some final words for you, but before that, there remains one last doubt in my heart.”

Old Aram replied hoarsely.

“Speak.”

Sheyan earnestly gazed at him and started.

“Though you possess outstanding strength, it is still insufficient against the legions of elite guardians of the Coiled Serpent subtribe and the Sun subtribe. Therefore, prior to setting off, what is the reason for being so confident in acquiring the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ and making a full retreat? Please don’t say it was just a gamble. If it was that, you would’ve gone alone and not bring the lives of your tribesmen to perish with you. Your goal in bringing a hundred plus tribesmen is absolutely not simply relying on their fighting capabilities!”

Old Aram shut his eyes and sighed before replying.

“I never would’ve foreseen the one who wishes to understand the truth of old, is actually a foreigner….fine, I shall reveal this. That year, it wasn’t I who volunteered to infiltrate the dwelling of traitorous scums in search of the divine flower, but my father……the old chief forced me to raise this skirmish, and if I didn’t, I would perish together with him!”

“Actually, long long time ago, we were similarly Ndipayans. However, our ancestors were deemed inadequate in spirit and bodily essence, and were exiled from there. Therefore, our tribe retained the history of the ancient world, and knew of certain mysteries about the Kijuju Marshland. For example, I recognize the mild scent of that herbal balm you smeared on yourself, the one that masks one’s scent. Or perhaps, secret unknowable pathways and even knowledge of certain things, that even the generations of Ndipaya high priest had lost!”

“So that’s the case.” Sheyan was moved. If it was truly the case, many things could now be explained.

“Then why did you bring a strength of over hundred tribesmen?”

Old Aram then abruptly reminisced with a strange yet rhythmic chant.

“To reach the holy flame plaza, pass the trial of the sun god. To accept the trial of the sun god, pass the treacherous ruins of ancient past! The reason I brought my tribesmen, is for them to open the way ahead to pass through that terrifying ruinous labyrinth.”

“And Mbenga?” Sheyan hesitated slightly. “Was he also just a mere sacrificial scapegoat?”

“No!” Old Aram shook his head gently. “Even though our ancestors failed to acquire the divine blessings and got banished, special talented offsprings would still surface occasionally. LIke me, like Mbenga, and like Kuria….”

Sheyan noticed that when Old Aram pronounced the name ‘Kuria’, his tone became gentler. Evidently, he was involved in an affair and subconsciously reminisced about it.

Thus, Sheyan refrained from being nosy and continued.

“In my homeland, such a phenomenon is hailed as an atavism. Although uncommon, it isn’t exceptionally rare as well…..thus speaking in this perspective, could it be that you, Mbenga and even Kuria, are actually tribal offsprings banished from the Coiled Serpent subtribe?”

Chapter 667: Plain Dealing

Old Aram glanced at Sheyan as he scowled with his raspy voice.

“Do you really think you’re an omniscient god? Kuria possessed the bloodline of the Sun tribe, while Mbenga was an offspring of the Coiled Serpent tribe. Otherwise, without the Gundazan’s ancestral bloodline, albeit not the direct bloodline, how could he occupy that body for so long? As for me…..”

Old Aram paused briefly at this point. This pause wasn’t about setting the mood with a change of tone, but it contained a special arrogance; like the clear difference between a monarch and his subject.

“I am….a descendant of the royal nobility of the Ndipaya dynasty!”

“A royal descendant?” Sheyan became slightly distracted, before regaining his senses and mused to himself.

“Indeed, how majestic was the Ndipaya Kingdom in the past. Its splendor probably wasn’t inferior to even the Mayan Kingdom. Undoubtedly, there must’ve been a powerful monarchy that ruled over the Ndipaya civilians. Moreover, religion also existed as an indispensable tool to brainwash his subjects. Even in medieval times, royal nobility and religious rule were extremely common and intrinsically related.”

“As such, did the monarchy of royal nobility fall alongside the collapse of the ancient Ndipaya Kingdom? Before eventually…only religious authority remained! Where religious rule segregated into the current Sun subtribe and the Coiled Serpent subtribe. As for this feeble old fart standing before me, the fallen royal Ndipaya bloodline probably flows within him. No wonder he knows so much of behind-the-scenes information. This explanation pretty much tallies with everything else.”

Old Aram glared at Sheyan, his eyes seemingly contained shimmering will-o-wisps. Then, he crooked his back and demanded.

“Now that you know everything you wish to know, it is your turn to tell me what you know. Should I find even a single world of deceit, don’t blame me for unleashing the vilest method of the jungle to deal with you!”

Afterwards, Sheyan no longer kept Aram in suspense and divulged everything clearly. At the last part, Sheyan started spewing a bunch of complicated and unknown sounding syllables to Old Aram, a sentence Mbenga pleaded that Sheyan relates to Old Aram before he died; probably a secret code of language between them.

As Old Aram listened to Sheyan, his face exhibited an array of multifarious expressions yet also filled with slight disbelief. Until he heard Sheyan’s rant of indecipherable syllables, did he become stunned.

After a brief while, he slowly mumbled.

“As it turns out……that legend is true. The empire both thrived and was destroyed by that power. Ahhh I, a descendant of royal Ndipaya nobility, am actually the chief offender for this entire tragedy!”

While muttering these words, Aram’s countenance sunk with sorrow and blood even trickled from the corners of his mouth. Evidently, this emotional blow was so great, it inflicted heart-wrenching damages.

Observing Aram’s downhearted state, Sheyan sincerely asked.

“Therefore, I’ve already taken revenge for Mbenga and Kuria. From henceforth, the elites of the Ndipaya tribe have been eliminated, you no longer have to feel threatened. Thus, I want the sacred artifact you stole from the Coiled Serpent tribe that year! Because, I must obtain the powers of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’!”

When Aram heard Sheyan’s demand, he revealed a puzzled countenance and questioned with dry shakiness.

“You want……the sacred artifact?”

Sheyan earnestly answered.

“Yes.”

Old Aram chuckled raspily.

“Truly an individual more cunning than the rapacious crocodiles of the marsh. Indeed, many things can be swiftly deduced just from grasping a starting point. From our discussion, you spoke as if you personally experienced the majority of events, but….you miscalculated a single fact!”

Sheyan couldn’t help but blurt out.

“One fact?”

“The reason I aged so rapidly, isn’t because of some dog shit internal struggling, or whatever emotional turmoil. For Mbenga and Kuria to sacrifice their lives for me, it was their honor and glory! The true reason is indeed due to this so-called ‘sacred artifact’!” Fear and grief abruptly welled up in Old Aram’s cloudy eyes.

“Like a devil, it whispers unceasingly to my heart. It insatiably infiltrates my flesh and exacerbates the suffocating stench of death; timelessly and rampantly devouring my vitality! I’ve exhausted all means, alas I couldn’t expel it…however!! However!!”

Old Aram had deteriorated to the verge of insanity, as he ludicrously roared out.

“I never had the intention of subduing the sacred Coiled Serpent artifact! One warning passed down since ancient times – royal nobility must distance themselves from that damnable artifact. It was it, that actively sought me out. After sensing the imperial aura, it enticed me!!!”

This news instantly left Sheyan flabbergasted. Without a doubt, many terrifying notions could be inferred from Old Aram’s words, notions that surpassed even his most audacious ideas previously!

Throughout the evolving history human civilization, and keeping in mind the primitive era of Ndipaya civilization, objects of worship were normally tangible and sensual objects. For example, the sun, moon, stars, oceans, mountains, reproductive organs and so on.

Only after culture stabilizes within civilizations, did deities of worship evolve further, manifesting in more artistic and splendorous forms. For example Heavenly Emperor Zhen Wu of daoism, the Jade Emperor, Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva of buddhism and satan of devil worshippers…

From the Sun subtribe’s worshipping of the sun, Sheyan inferred that the object of worship the Coiled Serpent tribesmen bowed to, was that of the skeletal corpse of a great serpent, its fangs or others. Yet now, it was no longer difficult to deduce from Aram’s speech.

“The sacred artifact of the Coiled Serpent tribe, is most likely an authentic, living Coiled Serpent! And this diabolically terrifying serpent dwells beside Old Aram, rapaciously absorbing his vitality all the time! Causing this supposedly healthy chap to degrade into a hunchbacked old fart.”

Reflecting on that, Sheyan’s eyes flickered with a strand of dread and subconsciously glanced towards that staff held by Old Aram all the time.

An exceedingly old-fashioned staff, supposedly crafted with an unimpressive looking, coiling tiny serpent around it!!!

Seemingly sensing Sheyan’s gaze, that grey and unremarkable looking tiny coiled serpent lifted its head, and spat out its red, bifurcated tongue. Then, it lazily coiled back and reverted to its utterly harmless state.

At this moment, Sheyan realized that when the tiny serpent coiled back, it positioned its tail coincidentally beneath its lower jaw; looking as though it was swallowing its own tail.

“This….is the sacred artifact of the Coiled Serpent tribe?” Sheyan inquired unhurriedly.

“That is correct.” Old Aram revealed a despondent countenance, as though he wanted to cry but couldn’t. “After being bitten by it, I became infected by its venom and was reduced to a puppet incapable of any resistance. I cannot extricate myself from its control. Alas, my only solace amidst this misfortune, is retaining my freedom unless I attempt to expel it, or when it becomes hungry.”

Sheyan contemplated a little before asking earnestly.

“Which means, You don’t mind at all if I were to take away this sacred artifact?”

“That is something I yearn for even in my dreams!” Old Aram exclaimed in excitement.

Sheyan lifted a finger and continued.

“I have one final question, you must reply honestly.”

Old Aram nodded.

“Only if it is to my knowledge.”

Sheyan pondered before starting.

“What are the ceremonial specifics involved in absorbing powers from the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ ?”

Old Aram recalled a little before answering.

“According to the records left behind by my ancestors, a grand religious ceremony will be held during the roundest full moon. According to the legends, the sun god forbids one from drawing power from the ‘Stairway of the Sun’. only the brightest of full moons can cloud the eyes of the sun god…..”

Following Old Aram’s complying explanation, Sheyan gradually understood the supreme secret of the Ndipaya race.

“Under normal circumstances, the dried leaves of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ will be grinded to powder, before being inhaled into the body. At the initial phase, not even one from ten individuals who experience this process can survive. Even if one did, he will be overwhelmed with the lust of blood, transforming insatiable and berserk; not knowing pain nor exhaustion. Moreover, animals and individuals slaughtered by those madman would turn crazy like them.”

“Only a minute handful can bear the divine powers of the sun god and survive; thereby obtaining indomitable might, transforming into invincible monarchs that led the armies of the Ndipaya kingdom.”

“During the later period of the empire, a brave Ndipaya warrior accepted the trial of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’. Alas, he failed in the end. Everyone thought he had died and buried him beneath a monumental tree. Instead, he miraculously survived and obtained invincible might. Furthermore, he was clear that in his rigid state of utmost despair, he was bitten by an unremarkable looking tiny serpent. Then, like a miracle, the venom of that serpent rescued him from that nightmare of a rigid death….”

“That warrior was the primogenitor of the Coiled Serpent tribe – Jörmungandr! As an absolutely formidable yet shrewd warrior, he didn’t divulge this secret to anyone. Instead, he covertly rescued berserking warriors who had accepted the powers of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, demanding they swore fealty to the coiled serpent god.”

Gradually, this secret force led by Jörmungandr inflated in strength, ultimately forming a force that could contend against the Sun religious faction. Moreover, during that period, the imperial monarchy had long felt that a sole religious faction could threaten the royal regime. Hence, the imperial monarchy began supporting the Coiled Serpent tribe.”

Chapter 668: Deadly duel with the sacred artifact

Old Aram’s raspy voice echoed throughout the jungle, carrying the regretful melancholy of a final generation descendant. The fiery flames pranced around by his side, seemingly capturing the stories of thousands of years ago.

“After a series of conflicts, the Sun and Coiled Serpent factions finally reached a compromise. Furthermore, after numerous revisions of the inheritance ceremony to draw on the power of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, a fixed tradition was finally formed.

During the commencement of the sacrificial ceremony, one would first accept the blessing of the coiled serpent god, which was secretly to be ‘bitten’ by the serpent staff. Afterwards, he would inhale the ground dried leaves from the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, before being placed in a dark cavern of rapid current flows. In this manner, even warriors who failed the trials of the sun god, would quietly wither away from the coiled serpent venom; preventing them from turning insane and assailing others.

When Sheyan listened till here, he was finally enlightened.

“The progenitor virus, hidden in the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, actually possesses the characteristics of evolving and restructuring human genes. However, most cannot endure such a transformation, and those that could, would metamorphose into terrifying mindless fiends. Perhaps, only one in a million possesses a physique and willpower to endure that virus! Even if a Ndipaya civilian was blessed with a body stronger than modern humans, the rate of success would still be close to zero.”

“As for the venom of that coiled serpent, it’s probably similar to an industrial catalyst chemical, and can counteract or smoothen the destructiveness of the progenitor virus on the human body. Thus, substantially raising the success rate. As such, when the ‘sacred artifact’ of the Coiled Serpent tribe was stolen by Old Aram, the crux of this Ndipaya system was ruined.”

“Nevertheless, the Ndipaya tribe had been brainwashed by religion throughout the generations. Being clueless about the term ‘viruses’, they held faith that their devout hearts could make up for this deficiency, and their deity remained in control. Hence, they resumed conventional practices, continuing sacrificial ceremonies on the brightest of full moons. One can simply imagine the astoundingly poor success rate from henceforth. No wonder, that event eventually triggered the creation of multitudes of mutated creatures.”

“Only elites from both tribes are chosen to inherit the powers of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’. When those elites were infected, they mutated into dreadful biohazard abominations, spreading the disease around and assaulting the glorious Ndipaya Tribe.”

“Over time, the pious Ndipaya tribesmen believed this was a trial sent by the enraged sun god…with the minute possibility of success rate in consuming the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, they believed the next survivor and inheritor of power, would be deemed as the savior sent by the sun god!”

As it turns out, akin to drinking poison to quench one’s thirst, the ceremonial rites indeed continued. Moreover, they were fixated on producing that ‘savior’, thus leading to a vicious cycle. If Sheyan hadn’t emerged, it would be very likely that in due time, the Ndipaya Tribe of the inner reaches would continue to be besieged and eventually eradicated.

This was the miserable and wretched truth that befell the Ndipaya Tribe after Old Aram departed that year.

Of course, Guarba and others who successfully suppressed the progenitor virus and successfully obtained superhuman powers, naturally were individuals who ‘job advanced’ years before while the Coiled Serpent artifact was still present.

By this point, the final riddle plaguing Sheyan’s heart had been resolved. With the joining of events, the history of Ndipaya civilization was finally laid bare.

Sheyan gazed into the sky and nodded.

“I finally understand. So, will you let me have the Coiled Serpent staff?”

Old Aram cast an expectant look at Sheyan before exclaiming.

“Just hurry and rid this plague from me! The earlier the better, however……bear this in mind, you mustn’t rely on brute force, otherwise, it will manipulate me to assault you. It will be definitely impossible for you to endure my wrath!”

At this moment, a profoundly sinister notion welled up in Sheyan’s mind – the rewards of eliminating royal nobility bloodline of the ancient Ndipaya kingdom. Nevertheless, he quickly tossed out that notion.

Because, the realm would inevitably consider the possibility of vicious and merciless contestants, attempting to massacre the village upon entering this world. With Old Aram assuming the responsibility of continuing the royal nobility bloodline, and being capable of escaping from the inner reaches of the Kijuju Marshland, he would undoubtedly be anointed with special ancestral tricks and fighting arts. Attempting to slay him forcefully would be mere wishful thinking.

Sheyan examined the remarkably plain looking tiny coiled serpent. Then, he reached his hand out to probe…..

Not a single reaction was made by the sacred artifact. Instead, it appeared spitefully ignorant, as though Sheyan was not worth a penny of its attention……

Then, Sheyan attempted to gently caress the serpent’s body.

Old Aram was about to caution him, but instead, his body reflexively swung in a mighty slap at Sheyan’s face. Instantly, gold stars circled his vision, his nose bled and five fingerprint marks became incomparably distinct on his face. After listening to ringing sound in his ears for half a day, did he regain his senses……

After regaining his senses, Sheyan couldn’t help but curse out angrily. When he noticed Old Aram gazing at him innocently with a look resembling that of the sausage mouth Ouyang Feng in ‘the eagle shooting heroes’ movie, he could only sigh.

(TL:*The eagle shooting heroes movie is a comedic spoof in 1993 on the legend of the condor heroes wuxia)

After being disciplined, Sheyan no longer dared to be reckless. He surveyed from a distance, trying to figure out a way of breaking through. Besides, he was no zoologist who grasped snake habits like the back of his hand.

Suddenly, a thought floated up in Sheyan’s mind.

“It cannot be that the serpent only recognizes Ndipaya folk! Right, this old fart only heard legends passed down by ancestors on the ceremonial rite process, but hasn’t personally witnessed it. Could it be, this darn snake only loves feasting on individuals infected by the progenitor virus?”

Pondering over that, Sheyan then produced the harvest he acquired back at the Sun Garden altar. At this moment, Sheyan was now posed with two serious problems.

Firstly, although he snapped off the tendril roots of the mother ‘Stairway of the Sun’, that root had tightly coiled and drilled into the sapling. Therefore, he could only produce that sapling along with the tiny snapped mother root.

Secondly, while the Ndipaya warriors inhaled ground dried leaves of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, he himself harvested a fresh sapling. Logically and theoretically speaking, withered leaves inevitably contains lower toxic concentration.

In spite of that, Sheyan could only treat a dead horse like a living one, proceeding one step at a time. After producing the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ from his nightmare imprint, he was astonished. Never did he expect in this short duration, the roots of the sapling had very outrageously seized the ‘meteorite’ fragment that Sheyan had also retrieved; appearing to be absorbing the energies of that ‘meteorite’ fragment in abundance.

As for the mother root tendril that had coiled around the sapling, the sapling had ruthlessly assimilated it as nutrients….

“This……what should I do? First pluck a young leaf off this sapling to try?” Sheyan contemplated excessively while producing this sapling.

Instead, at the instance Sheyan retrieved the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ onto his palm, that lackadaisical coiled serpent instantly shot up vertically and glowed with high spirits. It glared like a cobra inflating its neck hood, swiftly spilling out its red bifurcated tongue and emitting a threatening hiss!

Even more strangely, the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ reacted with unrivaled offensive austerity. In a flash, it leaped down from Sheyan’s palm. Its twin tentacle-like vines whipping noisily against the air, where the bottom half of its root tendril rapidly drilled into the ground; while the other half accelerated its absorbing of the ‘meteorite’ fragment.

Sheyan clearly remembered. The leaves of the mother ‘Stairway of the Sun’ were shaded in 5 different colors. In contrast, the budding leaves of this sapling exhibited 7 different shades!

Not only did the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ reproduce in a viviparity form, its mobility was exceptionally agile, utilizing its roots to directly drill into the ground. It was truly hard to define whether it was a plant or an animal.

All of a sudden, a greyish shadow blurred. That coiled serpent had initiated an assault for the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’. With a single chomp, it bit down onto the main stem of the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’.

Nevertheless, in the face of hostility, the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ was not to be outdone. Its twin tentacle vines viciously constricted around the coiled serpent body, dragging it apart with all its might. Moreover, it secreted that violet mercury-like lethal corrosive sap.

The corroding serpent’s body emitted sizzling sounds as its skin was easily corroded through, allowing the sap to infiltrate deep into its flesh.

Very evidently, the sense of pain for vegetation and animals differed greatly. Furthermore, the sapling was simultaneously absorbing the nutrients dissolved from the corroding serpent flesh. It truly embodied the essence of ‘supporting war with war’.

Still, the coiled serpent endured the agony and valiantly refused to relent.

The main stem of the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ was still young and semi-translucent. As such, one could vividly observe that at the area the coiled serpent had sunk its twin venomous fangs, strands of black liquid were being discharged and diffused into the sapling’s body; causing the auxiliary vines of the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ to twitch violently!

Right from the start, the two forces conflicted like that of fire and water. The venom of the coiled serpent wasn’t fatal but inflicted paralysis onto infected individuals. Instead, it served to neutralize the fatal toxins of the insurmountably rare ‘Stairway of the Sun’!

However, since time immemorial, the battles between both forces had been fought only in virus-infected hosts. It wasn’t a directly fierce confrontation between venom and virus like now. In this manner, an outcome could only be determined by the announcement of one side’s death!

Right at this instant, the two spectators were utterly shellshocked. Sheyan was now fearing that the chicken would fly off while its eggs were shattered, not reaping a single profit from this mutual destruction.

As for Old Aram, he desired most of the coiled serpent to be slain. On the contrary, he feared that if the serpent achieved a bitter triumph, it would frenziedly absorb blood vitality to replenish its grievous wounds….

The pathetic Old Aram already appeared 60 when he was only about 35. If the serpent enjoyed another ‘sumptuous buffet’, even if he didn’t perish, he would still be half dead.

Chapter 669: Ceremonious rite of the royal nobility!

Even though this was a holy war between two sacred beasts, it wasn’t at all the slightest bit entertaining or spectacular; merely a tussle between a tiny serpent and a little sapling. Moreover, 99% of the battle involved them struggling in a stalemate.

Eventually, the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ desperately absorbed the energies of the ‘meteorite’ fragment and consumed it completely, before finally being able to dissolve the coiled serpent and absorb it. Except, it paid a severe price; its originally crystalline and translucent stem was polluted with black, like ink being poured into a cup of clear water. Its young leaves and vines were now drooping dispiritedly downwards.

At this point, Old Aram heaved a long sigh of relief and wiped his sweat. He was brimming with a delight at having absolved himself from the snake. Till now, his vitality had been absorbed but his fundamental bodily essence wasn’t damaged yet. If he carefully recuperated, his longevity could probably be restored, thereby regaining some of his youth.

Upon noticing Sheyan’s current baffled demeanor, he pondered carefully before suggesting after a slight hesitation.

“Foreigner, your present situation is truly exceedingly rare. You obtained a sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ and not its withered leaves. The usual method of drawing power from the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ doesn’t apply anymore.”

At present, Sheyan could only offer a bleak smile. Did he currently possess sufficient economic capabilities to infiltrate the city of ruins again and plunder withered leaves from the “Stairway of the Sun’?

Still, Sheyan quickly realized Aram was hinting at an underlying meaning. He immediately stared at Old Aram and doubtfully asked.

“Could it be that you possess some other feasible method?”

Old Aram pondered a little before replying.

“Amongst the royal nobilities of the Ndipaya race, records of an ancient ceremony rite had been circulated down since eons ago. This ceremony rite is known as the ‘Babu-Babusar’. It is a special technique that only royal nobility employed in the past. While the Coiled Serpent faction and the Sun faction draws energies from withered dried leaves of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’, the Babu-Babusar ritual approaches from a different channel.”

“You should know by now, the mother ‘Stairway of the Sun’ is an exceptionally ruthless plant that murders its own seedlings. Our ancient technique is actually based on those dead ‘Stairway of the Sun’ saplings. However, those are completely dead saplings, while yours can be considered as only half-dead. Moreover, it was also bitten by the coiled serpent. Furthermore, I cannot guarantee that ancient ritual will be effective, and more critically, even if the Babu-Babusar rite succeeds, the death rate involved is equally towering and involved excruciating pain!”

“But what if it succeeds?” Sheyan abruptly blurted. “Since this ancient technique was passed down, that implies it can be effective. What happens if it succeeds?”

Old Aram recalled a little before answering.

“Words cannot describe the power gained from success. It differs totally from the power gained of successful warriors of the Sun and Coiled Serpent factions.The Individual transformation isn’t that great, but can cause multitudes of humans to perish unknowingly.”

Sheyan contemplated a little and breathed in deeply before instructing.

“Tell me about that method first, let me consider a little.”

After extricating himself from the fetters of the coiled serpent, Old Aram’s mood was sky high and thus acceded to Sheyan’s request.

Instead, he fished out an archaic looking rope from his back. This rope was knitted with a dense mass of differing knots. Witnessing this scene, Sheyan recalled an aged old custom he heard of before – Keep records by tying knots (Quipu)!

An unimaginable method of passing down historic civilization records, but was in fact adopted by many ancient cultures.

The Book of Changes (I Ching) recites – “ancients rope for governance, saints easily pass down books for generations, for officials to rule, and tens of thousands of people to inquire.”

The knotting method usually complies with this principle – “A monumental event, a large knot. A less significant one, a tinier knot. As for how many, let the masses decide.”

Not only was this unique custom practiced in ancient China, even American Indians adopted a similar practice. Of course, to decode the knots, one would have to rely on the mnemonic chants passed on from generation to generation.

Old Aram’s rough fingers stroked through one knot after another, gradually immersing into the supernatural realm of his forebearers. A mysterious language of the distant past drifted out from his mouth, somewhat resembling that of sanskrit chanting. Although Sheyan couldn’t interpret even half a word, the exotic melody still resonated within his heart.

After a good long while, did Aram turned to face Sheyan again.

“The Babu-Babusar ritual is extremely brutal, and cannot be halted once it begins. If you don’t succeed, you will turn into its food; a process of slowly watching your body being devoured until the sun rises and set twice. Do you really wish to proceed?”

The sun rising and setting twice indicated 48 hours. As Old Aram’s unhurried and hoarse words drifted into Sheyan’s ears, he couldn’t help but feel his hair standing. Coughing a little, he inquired.

“But…..at the instance I can no longer endure, what will happen if I attempt to forcibly discontinue the process with external force?”

Old Aram then assured him.

“The greatest possibility is mutually perishing with the presiding ritual master. Alternatively, the Babu-Babusar ritual will fail and you will not obtain its powers. That is what is detailed in the ancestor’s records. The ceremonial ritual must never be disrupted by external elements, otherwise, it would instantly fail.”

Obviously, Sheyan was planning to immediately return to the nightmare realm once the ceremonial ritual turns awry, forcibly restoring his body. However, it seems like only his life would be preserved while the ceremony will inevitably fail. Without any other better alternatives left, he grinded his teeth and advanced headstrong.

“You truly wish to proceed with the Babu-Babusar ceremonial ritual? I have to repeat this warning. Us royal nobility utilized sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ that were already fully dead. Unlike your current sapling that is merely severely injured but still very much alive. The probability of problems arising is extremely great.”

“I got it. Let’s do it.” By this point, Sheyan was already riding a tiger that was impossible to dismount.

Old Aram realized his resolution and shrugged his shoulders.

“Alright, wait. I shall search for the records of the Babu-Babusar ritual.”

Sheyan took several deep breaths and shut his eyes in anticipation.

10 minutes passed without hearing a sign from Old Aram.

When he lifted his head for a glance, he noticed Aram casting him an ashamed expression while scratching his head.

“My apologies. I actually placed the Babu-Babusar ceremonial records within my village hut. Wait here for me, I shall fetch it at once…..”

Sheyan exclaimed.

“…wait wait!! Just bring me along with you.”

According to previous regulation, Sheyan wasn’t permitted to exit from a 5 kilometers radius of the Kijuju Marshland. If not, he would be forcibly transported back to the realm.

To his surprise, with Old Aram leading him, he was allowed to bypass that regulation. However, when he returned to Port Qom, he received a notification that he could now only mobilize within Port Qom. Departing from there would cause him to be forcibly transported back to the nightmare realm.

By this time, the pirates had already set sail and returned to the Caribbean sea. By rushing along the wind, they would probably only require a month or so to return to sea. Moreover, the morale was thriving before they departed, naturally spurring their speed of voyage.

Without questions, Old Aram held absolute authority in his tribe. When he returned, he first ordered his tribesmen to prepare several items. Then, he proceeded to search through many different eccentric and weird herbs and items. Finally, after rummaging through his pointed tip straw hut, did he managed to retrieve something.

When Sheyan caught glimpse of that object, he instantly received a huge fright. It was shockingly a wrinkled head!!

Clearly, it was a specially processed head that had strangely, shrunk to the size of a fist. It had reddish brown skin, and oil had been squeezed out to give it a glossy luster; as though it had undergone waxing. Due to its severe state of dehydration, its facial features were clumped together; exhibiting a grimacing malevolent expression.

Upon spectating this head, Sheyan came to realize that these tribal folks were equally barbarically savage. Presumably, such intimidating body parts occupied the position of modern-day ‘sausages and meat’ in the cookbook of the natives.

“Perhaps this old fart understands he is going to exhaust a great deal of effort, and intends to first replenish his energy?”

Yet Sheyan didn’t expect Old Aram to treat this head with utmost reverence. He placed it before him before prostrating himself in admiration and started praying and incanting piously.

After a ‘wuliwala’ introduction by another native by the side, Sheyan was informed – that head unexpectedly belongs to Old Aram’s paternal forefather, that was treated like a symbol of reverence; analogous to a household shrine or memorial tablet.

After picking up that wrinkled head, Old Aram soaked it in clear water. One could observe its innumerable hairs assimilating into the water and spreading jointly upwards as though it was braided. When the water turned still, the head was fished up again as its hairs clumped together as knotted braids.

Old Aram squinted his eyes and issued a series of gibberish mutterings to Sheyan. He appeared as if he was expanding a great deal of effort to identify the knots along the braids, attempting to interpret their underlying significance.

At this moment, Sheyan desired strongly to toss a presbyopic glass at him. After all, if the old head reads or recalls wrongly, wasn’t he on the losing end?

Sheyan’s heart palpitated with anxiety as he observed the old man’s movements. Nevertheless, such a method of recording secrets truly left him flabbergasted. Even if one robbed away this symbolic wrinkled head, one would never be able to decipher its true purpose.

A while later, Old Aram’s lips twitched as he urged Sheyan sternly.

“Are you very sure, you wish to proceed with the Babu-Babusar ceremonial ritual?”

Sheyan replied with annoyance.

“For the last time, yes I am sure.”

Chapter 670: Weird implanting fusion

Knowing that Sheyan’s decisiveness evidently stemmed from careful deliberation, Old Aram no longer beat around the bush. He directly called for his tribesmen and escorted Sheyan towards a large wooden hut, located at the periphery of the village.

Wind infiltrated in from all four sides of this hut, while a tree stump stood at the center. The trunk was stained with purplish-black blood, while numerous clusters of ocher-colored broken bones, rotten meat, fish scales, fish innards were spewed everywhere. An assailing pungent odor pervaded the air. Most likely, this was Port Qom’s slaughterhouse.

Following that, Old Aram fetched a bowl of crow-black herbal drink, prompting Sheyan to drink it up. The drink was so bitter, Sheyan grimaced with exposed teeth. Yet concurrently, he received a notification.

[ You are about to initiate a secret ritual of royal Ndipaya nobility – the Babu-Babusar ceremony ]

[ During this ceremonial rite, your individual defense capabilities will decline to the state of an average male. This effect takes Domain Precedence ]

[ Due to an excessive amount of variables and data, the outcome cannot be evaluated. Contestant no.1018 is suggested to suspend this process at once, and link up with the realm with your military authority. Trading it will yield you an additional 100 achievement points as reward. After identification of its true value, your final reward may increase ]

[ Warning: You may encounter indescribably unknown dangers during this ceremonial ritual! ]

[ Do you wish to proceed with this ritual? ]

Upon viewing these notifications, Sheyan was instantly astonished. He immediately recalled the few unknown strange objects he acquired in the past, where they could be sold to the realm for achievement points. Only in exceedingly rare scenarios, would such weird object variation occur. Hence, the realm didn’t possess relevant statistics on them, thereby attaching a fixed research value to those objects.

Then, Sheyan immediately contemplated over his current predicament.

Firstly, the practice of this Babu-Babusar ceremonial ritual was long extinct. After myriads of generations, Old Aram’s reconstructing of this may seem right but actually wrong. Most likely, the strange variations involved was impossible to calculate even by the realm.

Secondly, it was his innate ability ‘Stronghold’. How many times did a conflict in effect precedence occur with various kinds of assaults, yet none managed to triumph over it. Even a dumbass would know his innate ability was extraordinarily perverted, and there was something fishy about it.

Finally, that semi-dead sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’. Its data should actually be deemed as normal. Yet while it should’ve been strangled to death by its mother, it managed to absorb a large chunk of an unknown ‘meteorite’. Next, its body was polluted by the venom of the mythical coiled serpent, and even absorbed the nutrients of the coiled serpent’s flesh.

Such brazen variations probably veered it completely away from being calculable by normal methods. It was probably long classified as an unknown strange object, and an extremely high grade one at that.

As such, with the three factors combining, an unprecedented unknown variation thus formed. Therefore, Sheyan could confirm it was why the realm was willing to fork out 100 achievement points, or perhaps even a higher valuation for it.

Yet pivotally, even if the achievement points reward soared to 200 or 500 points, Sheyan would equally not be moved. Because once he obtained that reward, there could possibly be a chance of allowing the realm to analyze his innate ability’s ‘data conflicting precedence’, leading it to be utterly exposed!

Hence, Sheyan very bluntly drank the herbal drink in one mouth, and opted to proceed. Instantly, he felt a surge of icy chilliness rolling down his throat, before spreading through different parts of his body which lost their senses one after another.

In a short span of minutes, Sheyan could no longer move; just like being injected with general anesthetic on an operation table. Only, his mind remained additionally clear.

His nightmare imprint then transferred a notification.

[ Babu-Babusar ritual initiated! From now, apart from speaking softly, any form of movement will result in the ceremonial rite failing. This includes returning to the realm, utilizing items or abilities ]

[ Warning: Failing the Babu-Babusar ritual may result in an extremely high possibility of contestant perishing! ]

At this moment, Old Aram led a flock of natives to surround Sheyan and began a mysterious dance, raising their hands and hollering at the top of their voices. Following that, Old Aram fished out an incredibly sharp golden knife from nowhere, before retrieving a skull that had been shaped into a mug. Pfffftt! After drinking a mouthful of murky liquid, he sprayed it onto the knife’s blade. Within a golden shimmer, he stabbed towards Sheyan’s chest!

Yet by this point, Sheyan’s defense was already reduced to the state of an average male. Moreover, Old Aram’s strength was clearly domineering; absolutely not inferior to Mbenga. Hence, his knife effortlessly punctured through Sheyan’s sternum. Perhaps it was due to the herbal drink earlier on, but only a relatively small volume of blood gushed out from his chest.

Exercising faint strength, Old Aram carved away Sheyan’s sternum, and fully exposed the organ beneath. One could now vividly observe Sheyan’s red beating heart pumping blood to the rest of his body.

As he chanted a mysterious incantation sonorously, Old Aram dripped a sliver of liquid contents of his skull mug over Sheyan’s wound. Consecutively, he produced the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ that had been bitten by the coiled serpent, allowing the sapling to pleasurably immerse inside the skull mug.

Not only did the sapling’s periphery appear sterilized, even its tiny root was cleanly rinsed of soil sediments; minute strands of root hairs could even be spotted.

Immediately after, Old Aram positioned the sapling beneath Sheyan’s chest.

Following that, this originally dying sapling actually crawled onto the mangled flesh of his chest. When its root touched Sheyan’s flesh, it swiftly branched out climbed alongside his internal circulatory system like an ivy; as though each primary artery and vein was constricted by a branch of root! The roots then continued stretching towards the depths of his body!

In a blink of an eye, Sheyan’s vitality, energy, and blood essence were being swiftly absorbed by the sapling, while the sapling rapidly flourished and grew. From struggling at its last breath, the sapling became energized like a lively dragon or animated tiger. Very evidently, if this process continues, Sheyan’s eventual outcome would be to become fertilizer.

At this moment, Sheyan bluntly shut his eyes and submitted to the will of heaven. Even an individual with excellent mental fortitude may not withstand this.

When the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ root had seemingly extended throughout all of Sheyan’s blood vessels, Old Aram suddenly billowed out like a raging wild beast. None could interpret what he was roaring. Concurrently, he was repeatedly switching his little golden knife between his right and left hands. The golden knife incessantly carved out tiny round arcs of goldish brilliance, and was truly marvelous to behold.

Next, he started circling around Sheyan with large strides, as his unblinking eyes fixated on his chest. All of a sudden, Old Aram’s little golden knife jolted out from his hand.

It jolted out like lightning, an astounding speed that was utterly incomprehensible. Only a flicker could be seen, before the knife stabbed into the main stem of the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ in Sheyan’s body. The knife then chopped off a swollen tubercle nucleus before flying back out! Shockingly, it did not cause even a single injury to Sheyan’s flesh.

All of a sudden, the secondary vines of the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’, twitched intensely; so much so that one could interpret it as plaintive wailing. Only after a long while, did the sapling calm down….before plunging into deathly stillness.

Nevertheless, the root branches that had blended into Sheyan’s body, remained attached to his blood vessels and meridians; inevitably continuing to absorb nutrients.

As it turns out, the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ was truly an exceptionally mythical plant. The majority of its growth actually involved its roots growing deep underground. While it could conduct photosynthesis like other plants, its roots acted like spiders, hunting underground for nutrients to devour.

Furthermore, while it maintains tranquil immobility for vastly long periods, it could lash out frenetically with its vines whenever it senses a threat.

Just like other vegetation, it instinctively blooms and attracts insects for pollination. Yet, its method of propagation was viviparity.

It possessed a greater intellect and perception of danger than other creatures, and proactively resorted to strangling its seedlings that threatened its livelihood!

One could certainly describe it as a hybrid between plant and animal; an organism that has transcended the boundaries of flora and fauna.

Yet, Old Aram sliced off the sapling’s ‘true nucleus’, a part analogous to a human’s brain, with one strike. Without that ‘true nucleus’, the sapling became reminiscent of a human vegetable; losing its rationality and influence, transforming completely into a parasite that adhered to Sheyan’s circulatory system.

Therefore, if this ceremonial rite succeeded, the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ would transform into Sheyan’s fourth major system! Apart from his circulatory, nervous and lymphatic system!

Of course, a crucial difficulty must be factored in – one’s resistive immune system. A human body would naturally reject and expel foreign objects. For example, one’s immune system battling and killing off bacteria infection. In fact, a person’s health is at least 90% based on his immune system, and 10% on health/medicinal supplements. Thus, one can determine how important one’s immune system is.

Chapter 671: Pestilence Monarch!!!

Yet everything comes with pros and cons. The immune system is like a double-edged sword that implicates severe side effects after an organ transplant. Take for example a recipient of a kidney transplant. Even if the operation succeeds, the recipient still has to constantly consume immunosuppressants in exchange for better sustainability for 85% in a year, 60% in 5 years but merely 1% over 10 years!

Having been transplanted into Sheyan’s body, the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ now had to face resistance from his bodily immune system. Moreover, this was a war the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ cannot win, because if it did, that would signify Sheyan’s bodily immune system crumbling; a consequence akin to contracting full blown aids.

Fortunately, the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ would rely on the capabilities of the progenitor virus, to deceive Sheyan’s immune system; tricking into believing it was an organ part of his body…putting it bluntly, the immune system was like a gate and the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ a guest. A guest wouldn’t trample over the gate to enter, lest any thief could freely enter to plunder. Instead, a guest would knock, before the gate receives him in and shutting once again; thereby guarding against any robber……

Thus at this moment, it was all up to the progenitor virus of the ‘Stairway of the Sun’. However, the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ had been polluted and inhibited by the coiled serpent’s venom. Therefore after experiencing numerous variations, one couldn’t be sure if the progenitor virus was still present, or perhaps even if it was, would it still be as potent as before. Its effects could no longer be forecasted.

After slicing off that ‘true nucleus’, Old Aram hooked out another overturned skull mug, and poured its foul smelling contents into Sheyan’s mouth; forcing him to gulp down large mouthfuls. Swirling within that filthy liquid, were tiny dead birds, fragmented bones of dead rodents and fur. All in all, the drink was utterly repulsive, and would probably leave behind a mouthful of sediments….

After performing all these, Old Aram employed his amateur techniques and begun setting Sheyan’s sternum back to position….of course, he wasn’t trained in stitching. Instead, a plentiful cluster of common jungle vines was brought over. After pressing out starchy white sap from the vines and heating over a nearby fire dyke into a paste, he smeared it across Sheyan’s wound as though attempting to glue it together.

Meanwhile, Sheyan wasn’t paying attention to such details at all. Ever since the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ was transplanted into his body, an unfathomably searing pain tormented him. Such agony was truly indescribable, and the closest estimate would be countless hands consecutively pinching one’s muscle fiber; like infinite acute pricks terrorizing one’s nervous systems! A pain that surged furiously along his bloodstream, stretching towards a hundred bones and his four limbs, and eternally unquenchable.

Even though Sheyan possessed an unyielding mental fortitude, he was already on the verge of crying out to give up. If not for his paralyzed body, he would certainly struggle fanatically and escape. Still, he persisted and endured the pain.

After what seemed like a few generations, but actually five minutes in reality, the pain gradually faded after drinking down that incredibly disgusting skull beverage. Next came a strange tingling itch. The source of this sensation was extremely palpable, stemming from around his chest wound where the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ infiltrated; upsurging a wild impulse within him to viciously claw at his chest.

Being under such torment, Sheyan was actually hallucinating about illusions of surveying cells floating in his blood. Those cells fissioned into various queer forms and proceeded to gobble up each other one after another…..

Not long after descending into hallucinations, he straightforwardly fainted.

In the following day, Sheyan switched between the states of acute pain, fainting, tingling itchiness and even clarity. His deep unconsciousness lasted for 24 hours. Soon, one could evidently notice that Sheyan’s period of clarity became increasingly longer, while his state of agony and itch became much shorter.

Fortunately, staying in Port Qom only cost 1,000 utility points per hour. Otherwise, the realm would’ve started pawning away his equipment……

Finally, after 48 hours, Sheyan finally received a late arriving notification from his nightmare imprint.

[ Royal Ndipaya secret Babu-Babusar ritual has concluded ]

[ You are infected with the ‘Ancestors’ Virus ]

[ You are now an A-Virus carrier ]

[ You have become an A-Virus host ]

[ The ‘Ancestors Virus’ possesses a terrifying devouring and duplication ability. Upon thorough contact, it can imitate the symptoms of any virus ]

[ You obtained a secret variated ability: Pestilence Monarch (evolvable) ]

[ Ability rank: 9? (unable to verify statistics) ]

[ Ability rank evaluation: S? (unable to verify statistics, just a rough estimate) ]

[ The ‘Stairway of the Sun’ has assimilated alongside your circulatory, lymphatic and nervous systems, as the fourth great system – the virus system! ]

[ You become immune to all virus effects. This effect takes ‘Domain Precedence’ ! ]

[ You acquired the ability: Babu-Babusar – You can utilize any bodily means, to break off or resume the circulation of your virus stream; thereby letting external effects affect you, or subsequently removing it ]

[ You obtained a fraction of flora characteristics ]

[ Pain limitation forever pegged at 50% ]

[ Duration of any blood loss effect will be forcibly reduced by half ]

[ In any location in contact with both earthen ground and water, HP regeneration rate will boost by 100% ]

[ Aforementioned effects takes ‘Domain Precedence’! ]

[ Ability: Corrosynthesis – Where the light rays are the strongest, corroding gaseous will discharge from your mouth, nose, and pores; dealing 10 – 50 constant damages to enemies in a 5 meters radius (regardless of any damage reduction influences, minimum lowest damage pegged at 5 true damages) ]

[ Ability: Photon-rejuvenation – Where the light rays are the weakest, healing gaseous will emit from your mouth, nose, and pores; bestowing 5 HP/ second regeneration to surrounding allies ]

[ Aforementioned effects take ‘Domain Precedence’! ]

Sheyan breathed deeply upon browsing through these notifications….his unceasing perseverance was finally rewarded! Just a single ‘Stairway of the Sun’ morphing into a virus circulatory system, granted him a list of absolutely frightening passive rewards. Moreover, the effects all possessed ‘Domain Precedence’!

Needless to say was that ‘Pestilence Monarch’ rank S ability he obtained! Moreover, Sheyan paid special attention to the three monumental prefix attached to the ability – secret, variated and evolvable! He reckoned that only with many unconventional elements combined, did such an invincible ability materialized.

Yet after the initial crazed delight of possessing a rank 9/S ability, he immediately remembered one practical fact!

His ‘Uruk-hai gene-mixes’ came from the rank 6 ‘Black Art mix Technique’, and already forced him to become a conspicuous spender of achievement points. As for an ability with 9 tiers and evaluated with an ‘S’ rank……heavens!!!! Wouldn’t its achievement point consumption be sufficient to kill?

Carrying such complication emotions, Sheyan started to inspect the specifics of his ‘Pestilence Monarch’ ability.

[ Pestilence Monarch requirement: Possessor must be a stabilized A-virus host ]

[ Rank: 9 tiers ]

[ Evaluation: S – Variated / Secret / Maturable ]

[ Description: The A-virus is an abnormal strain of the Progenitor virus. This virus strain substantially lowers the destruction and mutations done to the human host body. Instead, it works towards evolving the virus system by devouring and duplications ]

[ Further descriptions: If one claims the most famous strain of the Progenitor virus to the be the T-virus, whose aim in Resident Evil is to become the perfect biological weapon, then the A-virus can be considered to have broken new grounds for the progenitor virus. A completely new biochemistry virus whose aim is perfection through duplication and evolving, thus given the name – The Pestilence Monarch ]

[ Details: Ability user can grasp all sorts of viruses, with the main battling tactic of stealthily compounding multitudes of viruses onto the enemy; torturing them to death without a sound nor trace! ]

[ Pestilence Monarch ability: Disseminate – The unrivaled survivability of the A-virus strain propels your virus disseminating radius by 100% ]

[ Pestilence Monarch ability: Immuno-invalidation – The A-virus relies on the host’s immune system to survive as well. Thus, it possesses unparalleled invading capabilities, being able of completely negating the opponent’s immune, resistance born from physique, and even various regulations. Only a specialized virus resistance ability can counter it. This ability takes ‘Domain Authority Precedence’ ]

[ Pestilence Monarch ability: Toxin-stealth – The A-virus strain can invade an opponent’s body without triggering their perceptive sense. Only after symptoms concludes, would the enemy receive the relevant notifications. This ability takes ‘Domain Authority Precedence’ ]

[ Note: Your body contains a living ‘Stairway of the Sun’. All achievement points, utility points, and potential points cost of strengthening viruses is reduced by 50% ]

Sheyan skimmed through towards the end of the ‘Pestilence Monarch’ ability specifics. Yet upon careful examinations at the end, he shockingly discovered three evolution options.

Chapter 672: Terrifying virus infection

Three evolvable options shimmered with surreptitious radiance before Sheyan’s eyes, impressing a deep reverence with a single glance.

[ Option A: Airborne Pestilence (unactivated) ]

[ Details: Select the relevant ‘Pestilence Monarch’ innate skill tree to activate this evolution path. Activating this skill tree requires 40 achievement points! ]

[ Details: ‘Airborne Pestilence’ possess an expansive area of effect. Activating it would influence all enemies within a 40 meters radius (Effect is based on estimation, unable to calculate actual effect) ]

[ Details: Abilities takes a longer time to take effect, and primarily pertains towards weakening the enemy. Only later stages of advanced viruses can result in inflicting damages to enemy ]

[ Note, represented viruses: Influenza, Tuberculosis, Atypical Pneumonia, meningitis etc. You must activate the respective viruses before being able to infect enemies ]

[ Option B: Contact Pestilence (unactivated) ]

[ Details: Select the relevant ‘Pestilence Monarch’ innate skill tree to activate this evolution path. Activating this skill tree requires 40 achievement points! ]

[ Details: ‘Contact Pestilence’ possess a tiny area of effect, normally effective during attacking in close combat or when enemy attacks you from close combat. Upon activation, it influences enemies within a meter radius (Effect is based on estimation, unable to calculate actual effect) ]

[ Details: Abilities swiftly takes effect, primarily pertains towards delivering damages to the enemy and weakening them as a secondary effect ]

[ Note, represented viruses: Cholera, Trachoma, Anthrax, Ebola, AIDs etc. You must activate the respective viruses before being able to infect enemies ]

[ Option C: Nonspecific Pestilence (unactivated) ]

[ Details: Select the relevant ‘Pestilence Monarch’ innate skill tree to activate this evolvable path. Activating this skill tree requires 40 achievement points! ]

[ Details: ‘Nonspecific Pestilence’ utilizes various methods to infect enemies. For example long-range propagation like fleas, mosquitoes etc. For short range, the A-virus strain can directly infect the enemy’s cell and create infections ]

[ Details: Abilities takes moderate time to take effect. Can weaken enemies and simultaneously inflict damages ]

[ Note, represented virus: Ascariasis, Rabies, Dengue Fever, Bubonic Plague, Leukemia, Congenital Heart disease, Erythema, Wolf sores, Cancer etc. You must activate the respective viruses before being able to infect enemies]

Sheyan was utterly flabbergasted when he saw these notifications! Not only did they require a frightening 40 achievement points, the list comprised of much information that needed to be digested and analyzed.

Obviously, of the three innate skill trees, option ‘A’ focused on support weakening, ‘B’ on heavy offense and ‘C’ as a balance between both. Nevertheless, with a towering 40 achievement points gate, even though Sheyan possessed a ‘Stairway of the Sun’ body and could reduce costs pertaining to improving viruses aspects by 50%, he still needed frightening 20 achievement points to activate. Don’t even talk further about advancing along the skill tree.

Hence, this fundamentally implied that at the initial phase of activating the first option innate skill tree, one shouldn’t think about activating another one for a long long time.

If investing achievement points could rapidly and effectively translate into battle capabilities suited to him, Sheyan definitely had to make a choice.

Apart from that, Sheyan also hadn’t forgotten about ‘Chris Redfield’s Lucky Bracelet’, which contained an advanced ability he could learn. At this phase, a shortage of achievement points would undoubtedly constrain Sheyan’s development. Yet, achievement points were that tough to obtain, and true achievement points couldn’t be traded!!

After acquiring his ultimate reward, Sheyan no longer dared to tarry further. 1,000 utility points per hour were still relatively exorbitant.

He quickly sat up and gifted Old Aram with loads of miscellaneous goods in his personal interspatial storage; like rum, sackcloths, knives etc. Proceeding from there, he directly stepped out of Port Qom’s area and selected to leave this hidden world, thus returning to the nightmare realm.

Because a hidden world didn’t issue any main missions, there wasn’t a phase for summary evaluation. Sheyan only felt his vision darken and felt a sense of weightlessness, as though he was drifting along a pitch black lake for an extremely long while.

When he reopened his eyes, he had returned to his personal room. As usual, Jinkuang was snoring loudly, seemingly deep in hibernation.

As for Brother Black and Reef, they were currently training and tempering their capabilities in the realm. When they were alerted of Sheyan’s return from the party notification, they simultaneously greeted him; of course, to inquire about his personal safety, his harvest and so on.

Approximately 10 minutes later, the trio congregated within a public party room to make an inventory of the harvest acquired from this hidden world. Due to his excessive stayover in the hidden world, Sheyan had already sold off all his ‘Golden Sand’, ‘Diamonds’, ‘Gold Ore’ and other precious treasures.

Noteworthily, Sheyan managed to find a total of 3 diamonds of various carat during his exploration, with each selling off for minimally 40,000 utility points and 80,000 utility points to the maximum. If not for these treasures tanking the blow, solely Brother Black and Reef’s medical fees would already land their economic status in red. Therefore, when Sheyan unexpected returned with nearly 20,000 utility points left, it was already considered pretty amazing.

The last matter was to confirm the harvests he acquired.

Two ‘Deathmarsh Greatcroc Souls’, four ‘Silver Beetles’ and two ‘Golden Beetles’ where he acquired some during his exploration of the ruins, one ‘Pandora’s Egg’, one ‘Lionheart’, one dark-gold grade object ‘Ndipaya Evolved Leech (special)’, two dark-green set equipment, the soul equipment ‘Gold Pearl of the Caribbean Sea’, and his secret variated rank 9 ability ‘Pestilence Monarch’.

Note: He wasn’t able to bring out his herb medicines and raw materials. Just like if Sheyan directly retrieved the sapling ‘Stairway of the Sun’ and the ‘meteorite’ fragment without the acknowledgment of the nightmare realm that he acquired ‘xxx’, most probably he wouldn’t be able to bring them out as well.

As Reef and Brother Black listened to Sheyan’s narration of his experiences, they both felt waves of heart-shattering astonishment. Never could they have expected, the ultimate conclusion and rewards could only be acquired by returning to Port Qom! As for the final clue, it was actually all along held by the aged old and obsolete Old Aram.

A series of discussions later, they felt that with Sheyan’s current urgent deficiency of achievement points, they could consider selling away the silver and golden beetles to gain roughly 10 achievement points. As such, it should be possible to unlock the first skill tree of the ‘Pestilence Monarch’ ability.

As for the ‘Gold Pearl of the Caribbean Sea’ and the ‘Pandora’s Egg’, their properties were both categorized as undecided, and it was best to sell off once they could fully evaluate them. Besides, if they sold them now, they probably wouldn’t fetch a high valuation and ease their desperate situation.

Regarding the dark-gold grade item, the ‘Ndipaya Evolved Leech’, it was absolutely not leaving them. A deadly weapon of both offense and defense definitely must stay.

Thus, these were the remaining items that could be exhibited:

‘Lionheart’, Reef’s previous silver storyline grade shield ‘Alien Skull Shield’, and the two dark-green set equipment, the ‘Massive Ndipaya August Mask’ and the ‘Ndipaya Marshcrow August Gloves’.

Frankly speaking, the two dark-green set equipment would undoubtedly fetch an extravagant valuation. Sadly, they were still lacking the final piece to assemble a full set. Moreover, this set was crucially from a hidden world, meaning assembling a full set was undeniably harder; likely surpassing the difficulty of obtaining a dark-gold grade equipment. Hence, with the current situation, it would be hard to avoid buyers attempting to haggle over the price.

Nevertheless, after experiencing a hidden world, the trio now recognized the importance of cash flow. While utility points could be obtained in massive amounts at times, the rate of squandering was equally terrorizing at times. Thus, the trio reached a forthright consensus on dealing with the two dark-green set equipment.

A transaction method that suited the general aspect of the party the most. They decided to sell one to store up reserves in utility points, while the other, they would barter it off in exchange for pieces of equipment the members currently lack.

Of course, if Reef managed to sell off his silver storyline ‘Alien Skull’ shield for a splendid pricing, they could be more greedy with their dark-green set equipment and milk the cow as much as they could. However, if they still lacked utility points by the next world, it would undoubtedly translate to them having to take a loss in this aspect.

This time, it seemed like the trio had exited their world relatively earlier. As a result, the entire marketplace only displayed a sparse crowd of contestants.

Prior to this, Reef and Mogensha had been utterly concerned over Sheyan, dreading a mental crumbling notification like – [ Your party leader has died ].

Thus, they bitterly awaited. Right now, seeing that Sheyan had safely returned and even obtained a bumper harvest, they quickly returned to the real world.

Fortunately, Sheyan merely tarried a few days longer than the other two in the nightmare world. Thus, it was merely several hours of wait for the duo, and didn’t really count as a long wait.

Author’s note: Take note of the party storage operation mode. Once the trio’s separating distance exceeded a fixed distance (based on world difficulty, normally 3-8 kilometers), the storage would be deemed as one’s private storage.

TL: I think what author is trying to say is, if there is a long distance between them, the contestants cannot use the party storage to communicate by passing things or sharing items.

Chapter 673: Mystery of the Title Synthesis

The storage specifics is this – when any member stores an object but his current location exceeds the regulated proximity, only party members within the effective distance of that member can access it. Anyone else would not be able to access it. As such, the items of the party storage would be locked by distance at the instance it is stored.

Putting that in perspective, if Sheyan had stored the ‘Stairway of the Sun’ sapling he acquired from the hidden world into the party storage, Reef and Brother Black would only be able to access it if they were within the effective regulated proximity. As such, only Sheyan could freely retrieve it.

This eliminates a ‘communication cheat’ where Sheyan could simply drop a note inside his party storage, allowing Mogensha or Reef, who had returned safely to the nightmare realm, to read instructions detailed on the note; thereby engaging in supremely long-distance communication.

After Mogensha and Reef departed for the real world, Sheyan was about to sell off the ‘Golden Beetles’ and ‘Silver Beetles’. Suddenly, he thought of something and hastened towards the roof military headquarters, testing his luck if he could see them off as unknown strange objects. After reaching there, the relevant military authority revealed that his ‘Silver Beetles’ couldn’t, but he unexpectedly managed to sell off the ‘Golden Beetles’ for a high valuation of 6 achievement points!

Actually, the exorbitant valuation of the ‘Golden Beetle’ wasn’t without logic. It was, after all, an extremely rare item in a hidden world. Thus, Sheyan straightforwardly sold if off.

Following that, Sheyan tried to appraise that unknown ‘Pandora’s Egg’, but eventually failed with the realm informing him that he needed to deposit it for a period of time for appraisal. Viewing his circumstances, he decided to sell it off as an unknown strange object, which would still be greatly beneficial. Sadly, the realm didn’t classify it as an unknown strange object, causing him to be fruitless after counting his chickens before they hatch.

Of course, next up was title synthesis! According to his earlier received notification, title synthesis could only be done in the realm. After investigating in the military headquarters for the specialized realm location for title synthesis, he raced off with large strides.

On the way to his destination, his mind abruptly welled up with an irresistible notion.

“I wonder how devastating the conflict between Glory Party and the Illume-union has developed…”

This single notion then snowballed into a long series of thoughts.

“Clearly, Glory Party’s might is vastly superior to the Illume-union. Frankly speaking, by extricating ourselves with the help of the hidden world then, we’d probably incited a great calamity on the Illume-union…..hmph, since the proposed alliance deal fell out and the Illume-union actually sold us out to win more time for their development…they can’t blame me.”

“However, Glory Party and the Illume-union……the two party names are centered around brightness. If I’m not wrong, the two were probably one before. Could it be, Zeus was the root source of the Illume-union’s division? The Illume-union I encountered back during my first entry into the Pirates of the Caribbean world, definitely had a larger core than the one Zi presently commands. It feels as if they were incredibly perfect then, with branches of contestants and stronger individuals, presumably the reserve-duty Growth-hunters. Perhaps, the Illume-union divided because Zi wanted to claim the top seat of party leader?”

‘This conjecture is quite possible. A female party leader has this advantage – where long sleeves help one dance beautifully, a bewitching leader adept in coaxing others with her smooth and slick allurement. Such a party would inevitably result in a tendency where the master is weak, but the subjects are formidable. A weak but accepted leader guarded with a backbone core of powerful members, where her charm serves as a balance between all.”

“Yet, Zi is evidently not such an individual. Thus, her forcibly attempting to take command may lead to the resentment of several backbone members. Moreover, she doesn’t seem like a compromising individual……from the looks of it, Zi’s previous position was founded on the pillar of her relationship with Zeus. Thinking that she would accept him sooner or later, Zeus offered his valuable assistance, but simultaneously believed Zi’s authority belonged to him as well. A pity Zeus overestimated his own charm, causing them both to split ways; turning from lovers to foes.”

“….two morons.”

Sheyan shrugged his shoulders as he ended with his critical judgment of both Zeus and Zi. In his eyes, the relationship within a party ought to be purely founded on survivability. If tensions become too overwhelming, a wonton sharing of bodily fluids would still be understandable. However, mentioning about relationships in the face of death, he couldn’t help but brand them as morons.

Nevertheless to Sheyan, with his unresolvable conflict with the Metals Professor, Zeus was bound to become his enemy as well. This was an exceedingly redoubtable foe, and even worst, Sheyan currently had no knowledge of him at all.

Fortunately, with his analysis, Sheyan had roughly identified one of his weaknesses – Zi.

“That brat’s character is probably arrogant and possessive. Seeing his attitude towards the Illume-union, as long as he doesn’t get what he wants, he would rather destroy it. Therefore, if Zi survives, I wouldn’t mind helping her.”

Apart from that, Sheyan also badly wished to ask Zi, what she meant by delivering that blank message previously.

As he pondered while walking, Sheyan soon arrived at the realm location for title synthesis.

This was a location that only contestants who had activated their title synthesis ability could see. Clearly, the realm erected many barriers to test a contestant’s potential. For example, a contestant knowing the specifics of title synthesis cannot divulge it to contestants who didn’t.

Furthermore, the contestants even had to find out for themselves, regarding their promotion to Growth-hunter; where information was strictly sealed off. Hence, one could tell how strict the realm was in controlling external elements, wishing that contestants would mature in this aspect by their own strength.

Of course, Sheyan could grasp the realm’s intention. They wished to comprehend a contestant’s true potential, providing a fair assessment of each contestant and preventing external influences from affecting one.

Before 10 seconds was up from reaching this place, Sheyan received an acknowledgment from the realm, asking him to confirm if he wished to enter the zone for title synthesis.

All of a sudden, he rapidly submerged and several seconds later, found himself in an extremely tiny space A automatic machine analogous to an ‘ATM’ could be seen here.

Sheyan strolled over and pressed his palm down onto the indicated region by the machine. Instantly, a fingerprints and DNA processing verification was activated. When this dormant machine abruptly started up, it emitted a deep buzzing sound. After swiftly verifying Sheyan’s identity, it listed out all of his titles. Furthermore, it segregated his titles into different classes and types.

[ Black Iron Class titles: ]

[ Alcohol Master, Pirate Captain ]

[ Hidden title: Pirate Ringleader ]

[ Ordinary titles: Bowtruckles’ Feedback, Blood-thirsty 1, Meat Owner, Penetrate, Plunderer, Headhunter, Outstanding Worker, Fearless, Smuggler, Invader, Marsh Cleanser ]

By the list of titles, exhibited a set of regulations. Moreover, that was even an option of simulation. Of course, that option costs a fixed fee, and though it wasn’t considered expensive, it absolutely wasn’t cheap either.

After engaging in a simulation, he only boasted of a 70% basic success rate to synthesize two ordinary titles. As for synthesizing three ordinary titles, the success rate would dip to 30%.

In order to raise the success rate, one could only do so by burning titles. Burning a title during synthesis of ordinary titles, would bolster the success rate by 20%. Naturally, that burnt title would be lost. Fortunately, even if some titles were burnt, they could be redone. Sheyan took note that back in the Avatar world, Uzel and Lille had specially offered Party Ace benefits to acquire the three titles – ‘Plunderer’, ‘Penetrate’, and ‘Headhunter’.

Frankly speaking, the properties of those three titles were fairly average, and Sheyan was already suspicious then. Why would they pay money just to acquire three mediocre titles? Right now, he finally understood.

Burning those three titles could produce an additional success rate boost. The normal boost when burning a title would be merely 20% success rate, yet those three titles unexpectedly provided 30% increase in success rate.

Of course, Sheyan also sampled to simulate synthesis between two Black-Iron class titles, or Black-Iron class and ordinary titles.

It was only to be expected, the success rate instantly frantically declined! Between two Black-Iron class titles, the success rate was as low as 10%. Moreover, burning an ordinary title could only boost the rate by 5%. Even by burning those three titles of the Avatar world, they only offered a 10% increase each.

Sheyan also investigated the consequence of title synthesis failure.

In the case of failure, nothing would happen to the titles involved. However, the utility and potential points expended would be considered as squandered. Apart from that, the burnt title would similarly be destroyed.

If one didn’t possess sufficient titles to burn, one could also boost the success rate by burning achievement points. Each achievement point would increase success rate by 1%. Similarly, if the process fails, that achievement point would not be refunded.

Chapter 674: Doubled-edged sword

As of now, Sheyan planned to synthesize both his commonly employed Black-Iron class titles, the ‘Alcohol Master’ and ‘Pirate Captain’. Before that, he first leveraged on his military authority to scoop up more information. Unexpectedly, after forking out an intelligence fee, he found out that simultaneously synthesizing three Black-Iron class titles, would result in a chance for class advancement for the new title, advancing to Bronze class.

Moved by that, he couldn’t help but immediately cancel his plans for title synthesis. Evidently, if he could acquire another Black-Iron class title, he could gamble for a chance at acquiring a Bronze class title.

After clarifying matters pertaining to title synthesis, Sheyan then prepared to return to the real world. He desperately needed to rest his overworked mind, before slowly contemplating the issue of activating his ‘Pestilence Monarch’ ability.

At this moment, Sheyan randomly reminisced about the time he was first promoted to lieutenant, where he communicated with that hoarse voice. At present, he truly wished that he could obtain his guidance once again.

Besides, Sheyan was indeed harboring several discrete doubts in his heart. After all, his innate ability was still plagued by the realm ‘bug’ of data error. Although that hoarse voice treated him amicably, the guidance was probably within his limits of authority; allowing him to mention merely a few sentences. It was hard to determine the outcome if Sheyan exhibited his ‘Pestilence Monarch’ ability to him.

A phrase goes like this – an ignorant man is innocent, but one’s talent will arouse the envy of others. How bloody and cruel were the conflicts of the nightmare realm, Sheyan had no choice but to be cautiously prudent. Hence, he discarded his notion of seeking guidance.

Upon returning to his personal room, Sheyan first affirmed that he hadn’t omitted anything, but decided to return to the real world. Yet at this instance, a gentle snore abruptly wafted into his ears and startled his heart.

“Right, isn’t there still that old fart? Perhaps he could provide me with some insights!”

Thinking of that, Sheyan immediately raced towards the next room with excitement. Instead, a scene of disorderly burnt marks and filthy sloppiness greeted his sight. Fortunately, he didn’t see any feces or puddles of pee. Right beside a spittoon, was a crudely crafted brick stove with a charred black wok residing atop. Nobody could tell what meals Jinkuang had been cooking up.

The venerable Jinkuang was presently lying on a single tightrope bed while snoring in slumber. Wearing an excessively crumpled swallow-tailed coat, a bowknot manufactured with an unknown starchy substance hung across his neck.

Probably fantasizing about something wonderful, a strand of saliva trickled down his lips; soaking his pillow that was in fact, a pile of tattered clothes. The room was shockingly filled with random heaps of junk; torn papers, boards and what not. Sheyan even noticed a crushed cardboard box with a ‘Changhong Television’ branding…

Of course, Sheyan didn’t resort to being a wet blanket and waking him up. Instead, he utilized a measly amount of utility points to purchase fillet steak, seafood soup, fried onions, apple pie, crabmeat mango, and even top-grade tender beef steak, and directly placed them beside slut Jinkuang; allowing the fragrance to permeate into his filthy nostrils.

This was Sheyan’s method of rousing one with smell. However, excluded the initial twitching of his nose, Jinkuang didn’t offer a single hint of waking up. Instead, he rolled nearer towards the beef steak, and licked his lips.

Sheyan could only shrug his shoulders as he spectated this scene. Finally, he revealed his killer move and tossed out a penny dime, before softly exclaiming.

“Ehhh? Someone dropped a coin?”

When that statement was released, Jinkuang instantly shot up from his bed with a speed surpassing 200 points of agility. Like a professional soccer goalkeeper, he dove with heroic elegance towards that penny dime and gripped it tightly!

During the entire process, slut Jinkuang’s eyes remained shut while still emitting blissful sounds of snoring. Only when he placed the penny dime safely inside his pocket, did he open his eyes, filled with eye wax, while in a daze.

“Ah, for the love of gold! What’s going on, could it be the sky’s raining gold coins?”

Sheyan, beaming with smiles, replied.

“Yes, your fortune has descended. Quick feast on free food, my friend.”

Naturally, Mister Jinkuang displayed marvelous appetite towards any form of freebie. Only by spending his utility points, could Sheyan prompt Jinkuang to pat his belly gleefully while scraping at the gaps in his teeth.

“Half satisfied at best……perhaps I ought to take a rest now. Right, didn’t you mention treating me to a Havana cigar?”

“When did I agree to treat you a Havana cigar…” The appalled Sheyan could only sigh and shake his head, before acquiescing to his request with a wry smile.

In the end, slut Jinkuang devoured food sufficient to feed ‘n’ amount of people. Then, he proceeded to store the leftovers and blatantly claimed the plates and utensils of the realm as his own. After stashing everything beneath his bed, he hopped back and lazily stroked his plump belly while uttering.

“Speak, what do you need. Don’t waste my precious afternoon nap.”

Sheyan proceeded to display his secret, variated rank 9 ability and consulted Jinkuang in a nonflaunting demeanor. To his horror, after the old fart Jinkuang took a quick glance, his head fell back onto his pillow and resumed his slumber. Sheyan still believed he was pondering, until that slut emitted out snoring sounds once again, did he realize he had been duped!

Though he felt humiliated and indignant, Sheyan obliged to remain silent about his resentment. After all, was like an esteemed sage, harsh words may result in dire consequences.

In spite of these, just when Sheyan was about to depart after being wronged, he suddenly discovered with matchless shock, that 20 achievement points of his had been deducted for unfathomable reasons!!

Ah, 20 points! 20 points!!!!

Not 2 points, 4 points or 8 points!!

But 20 points!

In his fury and shock, Sheyan was about to implode with furious beratement. He quickly reflected on the past records, but gained nothing in the end. All of a sudden, he heard slut Jinkuang’s incomparably satisfied snore. A sudden notion immediately jolted through his mind.

“Could it be…..”

Sheyan immediately raced to check own his personal attributes. When he affirmed that his ‘Pestilence Monarch’ ability still remained the same, he heaved a long sigh. Yet when he continued examining downwards to the three branching options, he discovered to his surprise, a [ level 1 (activated) ] note beside the ‘Airborne Pestilence’ option.

Sheyan’s jaw dropped. A change had unexpected occurred! Shuala! A skill tree sprouted out from that option! However, that skill tree was filled with [ ? ? ? ]. Beside it, was a clear explanation.

[ You have not mastered any airborne dissemination type virus. Please swiftly grasp an airborne dissemination type virus, so as to contract and duplicate follow-up viruses ]

Upon viewing that explanation, Sheyan’s heart cried out bitterly. Must he still venture out and gather relevant virus ability scrolls to learn? Wasn’t this secret, variated rank S ability too demanding?

Fortunately, another explanation soon surfaced.

[ The A-virus possess exceptional efficacy in devouring, duplicating and optimizing viruses. Logically speaking, it can imitate any form of virus that can bypass the strengthened walls of an enhanced contestant’s immunity. By contracting the various viruses in the real world once, and acquiring the nucleus code of the virus, you can then grasp that particular virus ability ]

[ Details: With your enhanced body system, real-world viruses are completely ineffective or minimally potent against you. When contracting viruses in the real world, you must abandon your enhanced bodily state and be infected with the body of an average human. Otherwise, the A-virus cannot fully evaluate and harvest the nucleus code of the virus ]

[ Detail: You gain an ability ‘Introspect’ – upon activation, you can completely remove your bodily digitized enhancements within five seconds. You basic attributes will return to the state of your first entry into the realm. This effect takes ‘Domain Authority Precedence’! ]

[ Detail: The A-virus will eliminate all incubation period of infiltrating viruses, allowing the virus to spiral into full-blown mode. As long as you endure the full-blown virus for a period of time under your human state, the A-virus can then commence duplication and successfully harvest the virus ]

[ Warning, Warning: Once the A-virus enters sampling and duplication mode, you will be incapable of maintaining your ‘Introspect’ ability. Therefore, if you haven’t made adequate preparations before being infected with the virus, there is a possibility of sinking into near-death state! ]

[ Warning, Warning: In view of host’s fledgling A-virus state (insufficient tiers unlocked), you can only duplicate basic grade viruses. Please swiftly upgrade the relevant ability grade, to duplicate more varieties of viruses ]

Having viewed the list of information, Sheyan finally realized that Jinkuang’s choice for him was fairly sensible! If one chose to contract a virus with fatal lethal potency, one had attempt grasping such a type of virus with the state of an ordinary human! Moreover, one wouldn’t be able to restore his enhanced digitized body in time. Such a dangerous process naturally goes without saying! If Seaman, having just started building his reputation in the nightmare realm, was to pathetically die on a sickbed in the real world, where he brought it upon himself, that would be too huge of a joke!

This was akin to a double-edged sword. To master a dreadfully vile and potent virus, one must first experience its deadliness as a mortal. Oh, Ebola, AIDs….how dreadful to grasp those!!

Chapter 675: Accident

Although this path of virus mastery seemed extremely daunting, Sheyan noticed that the realm allowed several exploitable backdoors. For example, though contracting viruses required him to be reduced to ordinary human state, there wasn’t a restriction on admitting into hospitals for treatment. The realm also didn’t indicate that he couldn’t use medicines or items that were allowed to be brought out of the realm. Moreover, soul equipments could still aid him….

Of course, medicines or items specially manufactured for contestants may not be effective on ordinary humans, he wasn’t even in clear on the consequences of using. However, don’t forget this crucial fact – how were Uncle Dasi’s fingers rejuvenated??

In the realm, there existed medicines tuned specifically for ordinary humans! Obviously, they held terrifying pricings as well.

Finally, Sheyan determined one important fact – to locate a superb hospital or doctor with unparalleled medical expertise, because it was very likely that he would stay over for long periods of time in that hospital.

Furthermore, while a hospital may exhibit medical excellence in treating a certain disease, it may be subpar in treating others….This indicated that Sheyan probably needed to prepare information on several different hospitals. It seems like his return to the real world this time would be pretty packed.

Lastly, he obviously wouldn’t forget that soul equipment, ‘Gold Pearl of the Caribbean Sea’. Sheyan still required time to locate Diaz’s descendants! Fortunately, Sheyan could implore Reef to assist him with this and save crucial time.

Most critically, the types of airborne viruses that Sheyan could activate clearly included diseases like SARs. As such, one vital element has surfaced. Though it was easy to contract a flu, where would Sheyan go to get himself infected with SARs….such a string of problems would cause Sheyan untold amounts of headaches.

With these issues piling atop each other, Sheyan hastily and urgently raced back to the real world. Right now, he truly felt that time was exceedingly tight, while there were too much to be done.

When he stepped into the real world, he received a notification from his nightmare imprint.

[ Host has entered the real world ]

[ Discovered host’s activated branching innate skill tree, ‘Airborne Pestilences’ of the ability – ‘Pestilence Monarch’ ]

[ Currently, host does not possess a single relevant virus ability ]

[ Host possesses the qualifications for initiation ]

[ Scanning environment….please wait ]

[ Environmental scan completed: Host planet is equivalent to a tiny nickel planet. Atmosphere is rich in nitrogen and oxygen ]

[ Collating information……this process will take a while, please patiently wait ]

[ Note: Host can assist in streamlining the process by proceeding to widely populated areas by similar host species ]

Upon viewing that notification, Sheyan felt extremely awkward. Putting it bluntly, it was truly strange and ball breaking!! What ‘proceeding to widely populated areas by similar host species’? That was truly awkward-sounding by the realm!

To quickly get his nightmare imprint to shut up and cease from spouting incomparably awkward sentences, Sheyan straightforwardly advanced towards a nearby Chinese herb tea shop. This was coincidentally the tea shop opened by Old Song, selling xiaolong tangbaos (soup buns) in the morning, and meals in boxes in the afternoon. When evening arrived, the shop would transform into a Chinese herb tea shop.

Oh, I believe many have forgotten who Old Song is. He was a butcher who shifted professions to become a shop owner. Most importantly, his brother had passed on and left behind a 30 plus years old widow named He Fengdi. Oh right, and to Uncle Dasi, she is his spring.

Sheyan waddled into the Chinese tea shop with large strides. After switching from the blistering hot weather to a chilling air-conditioned room, he instantly felt refreshed. Presently, 15-16 year-old high school sweethearts were exchanging terms of endearment inside this Chinese tea shop. Occasionally sharing their drinking straw, being utterly ignorant of others.

By their side where two tables were pieced together, a group of 5-6 pier workers was clamorously enjoying a game of playing cards. At the entrance, a languid old cat was resting on a stool, as it lazily swayed its furry tail while eyeing Sheyan. An aunty dressed in a bamboo patterned apron was currently taking a nap, with her head lying directly facing the table. She appeared to be in deep sleep, unmoved even by the sun rays cascading against her back.

When Sheyan strolled into the shop, he was greeted courteously by several of the playing cards pier workers, who were aware of his identity as a shipowner. When Sheyan finally sat down, he immediately felt a sense of parched dryness in his mouth due to the heat. Hence, he directly called for a bowl of lemon Aiyu Jelly.

A jelly made from gel from the seeds of a variety of figs, where the starch of seeds was placed in boiling water to coagulate. After which, honey, rock candy, iced water, lemon juice and other ingredients are added. The jelly is ice-cold, releases a perfect texture in the mouth, appealing to the eyes with its crystalline translucency. By popping this sour and sweet freshness, even the summer heat would dissipate immediately.

After drinking a bowl of Aiyu jelly drink, Sheyan was relieved of much internal heat. While puzzling over the duration needed by the nightmare imprint to gather information, he suddenly noticed an azure flowerish curtain unfurling at the kitchen area. Indeed, it was Di Gu who walked out. However, her eyes while puffy and reddened, as she offered a forced smile to Sheyan before rushing out of the shop.

At present, Sheyan’s mind was filled with the thoughts of viruses, hosts, and others. As such, he wasn’t paying much attention to the affairs of this present world. Thus, he didn’t take note of Di Gu’s expression. Instead, he blatantly halted her and reminded.

“Ah, Di Gu. Sanzi wants to have stewed meat for dinner later, remember alright.”

Di Gu didn’t respond but cast a countenance brimming with hidden bitterness.

At this moment, that curtain unfurled again. A burly chap around 40 years of age marched out. His face was greasy and kept a pair of netted sideburns. He was half naked and a butcher’s knife was suspended by his waist. Looking rather malicious, he angrily roared.

“Bloody bitch…..eat eat eat? Still wish to freeload stewed meat? Go have chicken scraps instead!”

Sheyan’s eyes squinted instantaneously as he nonchalantly argued.

“Boss He, we’ve already ordered for a month’s worth of meals.”

“Order your mother. Screw off and scram now, are you ordering food or harassing woman?” Boss He scoffed angrily. “I really couldn’t tell a crippled like Dasi dares to harbor designs on my house! A sickly old toad wishes to eat swan meat and covet what’s mine?”

Upon hearing Boss He ridiculing Uncle Dasi, Sheyan’s expression instantly turned downcast but he revealed a sinister smile.

“Fine! I can leave, but since Sanzi has already ordered a month’s worth of takeaway meals, and we’ve only consumed 20 day’s worth, return 3,000 to me and I’ll leave at once!”

Boss He was a gambler, and had long squandered away the thousands of Taiwanese dollar in a casino. Moreover, he had always been rude and unreasonable. As such, asking him to refund money was even harder than asking him to scrape off his flesh. He immediately bellowed out.

“I’ll refund your mother! Your house should compensate for seducing another house’s woman. Don’t wait till this daddy teach you how lethal a butcher’s knife can be! Since that lustful blockhead Dasi dares seduce what’s mine, then I shall transform him into a castrated dog!”

As he issued that threat, Boss He brandished the butcher knife from his waist. Sheyan was already displeased when he first insulted Uncle Dasi. Thus when that brat touched his knife, Sheyan immediately unleashed a slap across.

PA! A single slap produced glittering sparks in Boss He’s eyes and a buzzing sound in his ears. Then, a followed up kick arrived and sent the plump 100kg old boss flying 2-3 meters away. Crash Crash! He landed on a nearby table and utterly demolished it!

A kitchen staff wanted to assist his boss, yet Sheyan had already picked up that butcher’s knife, before chopping it viciously down towards Boss He’s waist.

Amidst his incomparably sorrowful shriek, Boss He could only feel the cold iciness of the knife blade, before a foul stench pervaded out from within his pants. He soon discovered the knife had merely chopped through his pants, and didn’t harm a single flesh on him, causing him to feel momentarily pathetic.

Sheyan glared at him and coldly announced.

“Stewed meat for dinner delivered by Di Gu, or refund our 3,000 dollars.”

After issuing that, Sheyan turned to leave. Who knew that when he turned around, Boss He was actually spurred into recklessness by furious humiliation. He roared while pulling out his butcher’s knife and pouncing towards Sheyan’s back, before hacking away without caring for anything else! It appeared as though he wanted Sheyan’s life.

In the twinkling of an eye, Sheyan’s evil tendencies flared up. Sidestepping and causing Boss He to miss, Sheyan grabbed his wrist and exerted tiny strength. Pop! Boss He’s wrist instantly fractured.

Concurrently, Sheyan snatched away the butcher’s knife. No longer displaying courtesy for such an individual, he chopped deeply into Boss He’s thigh. Blood instantly gushed out rapidly and dyed his pants red.

A female abruptly screamed at this moment, syncing with the blood-curdling screams of Boss He. When another shop assistant tried to intervene, he was similarly kicked 2-3 meters flying, and ended up curling within a corner; his face deathly pale and no longer daring to spew a single word.

As this region was somewhat an unregulated grey area, the individuals here were all stunned and none thought of calling the police in this split second.

Frankly speaking, Boss He was truly a pain in the neck. He was incredibly unyielding and even attempted to struggle even by this point. Furthermore, he still cursed out, “If you don’t kill this daddy today, this daddy shall wipe out your entire house tomorrow!”

Sheyan didn’t bother arguing but bluntly seized him by the neck. Then, he dragged Boss He into the back kitchen like a dead dog, and forcibly plunged his head into a jar of water!