Volume 3, Chapter 87 – Arrival

Two hours later, they set off, taking a Star Tower Group helicopter toward Bako City, flying straight for Fuhu Temple.

Aray was not among them. He stayed behind in Diming City to serve as that “necessary bridge.”

Seated in the helicopter, Bai Xiang did not forget to analyze the data with the Jade Spirit Mingxin Method. She looked as if she were simply sitting with her eyes closed, resting and nurturing her spirit.

Aurora sat opposite her, legs together at a ladylike angle, reading a book on a light-screen.

Everyone had something to keep them busy. Only Bolu sat off to the side, unable to rest easy.

He had already rated Bai Xiang’s “threat” extremely high, yet by Mofo Above, she was simply not human at all.

She was like a calamity star fallen from the heavens, a catastrophe walking the earth.

Bolu was terrified. He no longer dared imagine what Bai Xiang actually planned to do at Fuhu Temple. He did not believe the promise she had given him before, and his instincts insisted she definitely had other intentions.

Bai Xiang had no idea the power she had shown had grown so overwhelming that her very existence placed enormous pressure on others.

And indeed, that was the case.

She simply lacked experience in this area.

She still poured most of her mind into studying her cultivation progress, splitting her focus between refining Qi-Origin and using Jade Spirit to build a model of her body, constantly verifying how compatible the “biological reactor” was with herself.

Judging from the results alone, so long as she could overcome the possible side effects of the Blood Jade, something she was one hundred percent confident she could do with the support of her soul-abilities, she would immediately be able to generate a smaller biological reactor inside her body, and her strength would skyrocket.

But there were two hidden dangers that kept her from doing so. First, the risk of collapse; second, that doing this would break the balance of nature.

The risk of collapse referred to overall integrity and coordination.

If you mounted an aircraft rocket engine on an ordinary taxicab, would that suddenly make it impressive?

Its mechanical frame and body materials were all so average. Once the engine ignited and accelerated, could it possibly handle that insane thrust? It would probably fly for a short while before shaking apart and breaking to pieces.

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With Bai Xiang’s current physical strength, she was certainly no “taxi,” but a biological reactor was no aircraft rocket engine either.

The power it could provide was explosive, and it was hard to say whether it would cause severe contamination as well.

In her previous life, Bai Xiang had watched the Godzilla series of movies. She had no desire to become someone who radiated intense radiation everywhere she went.

As for the balance of nature, that came from a vague feeling.

Because of the existence of her soul-abilities, she held “absolute control” over her own body.

This meant that if she wished, she could change her bodily structure to quite a large degree.

Twitching her nose, moving her ears, even shifting her hair at will were trivially easy for her. She could grow a second and third heart inside herself, twist her bones and organs into new arrangements, and make her outward appearance undergo a dramatic transformation.

Especially after discovering the Hidden Field Orifice, she had grown more and more confident in this ability to alter and rewrite herself. Sometimes she even had a “hallucination.”

Namely, even though she had never actually done so, she had the constant feeling that if she wanted, she could at any moment change her body and switch back to the sex she had in her previous life.

Was this the power of the “origin orifice”?

She did not know.

When planning the path beyond the Core, the cases she referenced were the “Nascent Soul” realms summarized from many novels and stories. In a considerable number of those stories, Nascent Soul was granted a special ability: at the moment the Nascent Soul was achieved, the cultivator was allowed to remake their flesh.

Those with ugly faces could reshape themselves into beauty.

Those tired of their old sex could switch to the other side and experience a brand-new life.

She felt that although the origin orifice and Nascent Soul were not the same, they were both about gathering the “great medicine of the human body,” so perhaps they could both trigger this sort of “privilege.”

After all, “by gathering the great medicine, excavating the body’s potential so that a cultivator could comprehend heaven and earth’s qi and reshape their body” sounded like a completely plausible idea. Even viewed through a research mind-set, it made sense.

But in the end, she had not done it.

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It was not that she had no interest at all in regaining the body she had in her previous life, but whenever the thought arose, she would feel that it was not beautiful.

A sense of unease, a sense of rejection.

So she came to a realization: the body she had now was the one that fit her best.

Maybe that had not been true when she had first arrived in this world, but after that time she “severed the Red Dragon” and used soul-vision of the body-scape to remodel herself, this body had become one hundred percent bound and matched to her.

Her outward form was already the manifestation of her heart-aspect. Any alteration on that basis, whether adding a bit or taking away a bit, would be inappropriate.

She could only let it grow naturally.

That was the only way to follow the principle that “the Dao follows nature.”

Once she understood that, it was easy to see why she did not plan to build a reactor either.

That would also disrupt the balance of her body.

Perhaps she would gain greater power in the short term, but in the long run it might cut off her path to longevity.

“Blood Jade.”

Bai Xiang took the red jade from her pocket. Under the light it had a crystal sheen, like the most perfect bloodstone, that vivid red color enough to make anyone lose themselves.

Although the idea of a biochemical reactor was out, the human experiments carried out around this thing had given her several insights into cultivation.

She had also read Starwater Company’s research logs and learned that this was the true key to the Tyrant Project’s success.

It contained a mysterious energy, brimming with life, capable of reviving all things.

Because it had been embedded into Ena’s spine, constantly boosting and restoring it, Ena’s body had been able to withstand the internal damage the biological reactor inflicted every moment. Its powerful regenerative ability had come from this as well.

Coincidentally, when it came to “regeneration,” Bai Xiang could not have been more familiar.

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She had practically slaughtered her way through a large-scale demon disaster. Although she had not faced full armies, the demon beasts she had chopped apart and ground into blood pulp numbered in the tens of thousands. She knew exactly how troublesome those demon beasts polluted by blood mist were.

Even shredded into a slurry of flesh and blood, they could still struggle and writhe for a while. With that kind of regeneration and recovery, only a “freak” like her, who could rely on ample Qi-Origin, could indulge herself freely. Someone like Kong An would have to flee such a scene.

Because he would not have enough demonic power.

If he got surrounded, he would be exhausted to death.

The power provided by the Blood Jade could already be concretely described as “super regeneration.” It was extremely similar to that of the demon beasts polluted by blood mist. Could the two share the same source?

Had it been provided by that hidden demon race faction?

It was very possible, because it had happened to be obtained during Starwater Company’s war with the Yunhe Demon Kingdom. ①

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① Yunhe Demon Kingdom: the reason there are so many demonfolk in Diming City is that the Yunhe Demon Kingdom was wiped out. This is mentioned in Chapter Seventy-Nine.

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“This thing really is miraculous.”

Noticing her movements, Aurora spoke softly to explain.

“We call it ‘life blood jade.’ This small piece was cut from the original stone.”

Bai Xiang asked, “Where is the original stone?”

“We cut some and sent it to headquarters, and the rest is at the company’s base… Do not worry, if you want it, we will not refuse you.”

Bai Xiang did something that took her by surprise: she tossed the life blood jade to her.

“Eh, eh?”

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Aurora scrambled to catch the gem. The moment it landed in her hand, she felt a warm current pour into her arms, and the pain caused by her radiation sickness eased considerably.

“I have no plans to use it for now.” Bai Xiang closed her eyes.

“Just holding it like that will not harm you.”

Aurora could not control the surge of emotion in her heart.

In truth, the reason she had stayed in Diming City instead of leaving, apart from the team there being more skilled at treating radiation sickness, was that she relied mainly on the Blood Jade to slow the spread of her illness.

But after Bai Xiang arrived and showed an interest in the treasure, she had not dared wear the Blood Jade anymore. She treated all of it as Bai Xiang’s property, keeping it stored together in the laboratory.

Dao Lord Bai…

Even if she only wanted to use me, even if she was simply worried that my body might not hold out for a week at her side, this kind of concern feels so warm…

Aurora stole a quick glance at Bai Xiang’s face, hidden behind her mask, then forced herself to quiet her thoughts.

Power was enough to crush all fantasies.

Bai Xiang was not interested.

Aurora did not dare overstep.

The journey was short. Very soon, the helicopter reached Bako City and slowly descended onto the platform of an ancient temple in the western suburbs.

Fuhu Temple.

Looking down from the window, Bai Xiang saw many armed monks filing out of the temple, gathering together under the lead of an elderly monk in robes.