Chapter 651: Transformation

"Bang!!!"

The heavy blow landed, and the pain in Ning An's abdomen caused him to instantly curl up.

He had moved almost the exact instant his opponent struck.

The corpse puppet beside him suddenly exploded. Dark green smoke filled the air, condensing into a foul, rotting liquid that enveloped him at its center.

This liquid was harmless to him, but the same could not be said for anyone else.

"Sizzle—"

A wisp of green smoke rose from Hermit's arm and drifted into the air.

Even though he was incredibly fast, attacking and withdrawing in a flash, he had still been tainted by a bit of the smoke.

"Heh."

Even with his face twisted in pain, Ning An forced a smile.

His opponent was finished.

"Suppress!!!"

He raised his hand and pointed at Hermit from afar.

Behind him, a crimson light and a blackish-red light bloomed simultaneously.

"Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—"

The mountain forest below the two of them trembled. Something was rushing over from the distance, sprinting madly close to the ground. The dust it kicked up trailed like car exhaust, billowing into the air to form a sandstorm.

Hermit tried to retreat, but the liquid clinging to his arm suddenly morphed into chains.

His speed visibly dropped.

At the very least... Ning An could track his movements now.

It was a massive improvement.

He was still fast, but... corpses suddenly leaped high into the air from all directions, lunging toward Hermit.

There were so many figures that they crammed the sky. From afar, they looked like a swarm of airborne locusts. They brandished their claws, their arms flailing like wings, completely blocking out the sunlight.

The shape of the sun could only struggle to shine through the cracks, as if it had been squeezed flat.

Hermit's body was trapped in the darkest spot. Right now, no matter which direction he tried to dash in, he had to face the terrifying horde of corpses.

"You're mine."

Ning An smiled faintly.

He didn't care about his opponent's identity; that earlier smile alone had sparked a deep interest in claiming this corpse.

Since the man had come knocking on his door, there was no reason not to accept the gift.

But right then, the unexpected happened.

As Ning An watched Hermit, he suddenly saw the corners of the man's mouth curve upward once more.

Ning An's heart skipped a beat. Before he could react, Hermit threw his robes back and produced a small vial.

Inside the vial, a dark golden liquid sloshed.

"Stop him!!!"

Overwhelmed by a sense of extreme unease, Ning An immediately bellowed at the corpses.

But it was too late.

Speed was exactly what Hermit excelled at.

The dark golden liquid poured down his throat. A terrifying, blinding light erupted around Hermit, and in the next second, he seemed to turn into a sheer shadow.

He vanished instantly from where he stood.

And then...

Ning An watched helplessly as a chain of violent explosions tore through his corpse horde.

"Boom, boom, boom—"

The detonations looked like colliding meteors, spreading from the very front all the way across the circular swarm of corpses.

What the hell... is this...

Ning An stared blankly. A moment later, Zheng Youlan's voice rang out from above:

"Hurry up and get on!!!"

Zheng Youlan sounded frantic atop the bird's back. Before Ning An could process it, he felt as though he had been rammed by a mountain. Every bone in his body unleashed a simultaneous crack as he was sent flying into the distance like a kite with a snapped string.

Fortunately, the Bone Bird had dived early. It extended its claws, snatched him up, and beat its wings, fleeing into the distance.

In truth, even at top speed, the Bone Bird couldn't outpace Hermit.

But the key was that Hermit had more than one target to choose from right now.

Luckily, Hermit glanced at Zheng Youlan and Ning An on the bird's back, then opted for his other mark.

With a whistle of wind, Hermit landed right in front of the Man in Blood-Colored Brocade.

"Swish—"

Hermit raised both hands.

And slammed them down viciously.

The Man in Blood-Colored Brocade threw up his twin blades to block above his head.

"Bang!!!"

The terrifying collision of force was like Mars crashing into Earth. Rings of fire rippled through the air, painting the sky a burning red.

The Man in Blood-Colored Brocade jolted, his eyes flying wide.

Compared to before, his opponent's strength hadn't just doubled—it had undergone a world-shaking transformation.

If this had been earlier, he absolutely would have had the upper hand after blocking that attack.

Hermit could only rely on speed if he wanted to hurt him.

Now, the tables had completely turned.

Under the crushing weight of that terrifying force, the twin blades in the Man in Blood-Colored Brocade's hands shook uncontrollably, the edges vibrating.

A second later...

"Crack—"

As a fracture appeared on the edge of one of the blades, the Man in Blood-Colored Brocade coughed up a massive mouthful of blood. Looking as if he had been struck by lightning, he plummeted toward the ground.

Before he even hit the earth, Hermit's phantom-like figure appeared below him once again.

The blood-robed man stared in despair at the hands reappearing right above his forehead. His eyes quaked, and he squeezed them shut.

The next instant.

"Bang!!!!"

...

...

"Cough, cough... cough, cough..."

Ning An's body simply couldn't stop the gushing blood. Beside him, Zheng Youlan was covered in sweat. Streak after streak of Weird Energy fell upon Ning An, yet it failed to significantly slow the bleeding.

She wasn't skilled in healing, knowing only the barest surface tricks, but Ning An's injuries were heavy enough to be fatal.

That was Hermit's trump card: using absolute speed to generate massive kinetic energy and execute his opponent.

Such an impact naturally carried a certain degree of backlash to the user as well.

Originally, when he was alive, he had relied on a weapon to bear it.

But things were different now.

After receiving the blessing of Yan Jing's blood, his own body was the greatest weapon of all.

Under that violent impact, nearly every bone in Ning An's body had been shattered.

"Rustle, rustle—"

Watching Ning An's aura grow fainter and fainter, Zheng Youlan was completely out of options. She gritted her teeth, and a vial materialized in her palm.

An Advanced Healing Potion.

This wasn't some common street ware. Even in the Central Region, this was an incredibly rare miracle drug. Zheng Youlan hadn't acquired this vial herself; she was rewarded with it by her Clan for outstanding performance.

But now... looking at Ning An, she ultimately chose to pull this potion out.

She had no choice. She couldn't just stand by and watch him die.

If Ning An died, strictly speaking, she would bear half the blame.

If she hadn't egged him on, Ning An would have already lost his confidence and gone home. He only agreed to come because she told him his complete path lay in this operation.

The deep blue liquid washed past Ning An's cracked lips and poured into his mouth. A few seconds later, his chest heaved, and he let out a long breath:

"Huuu—"

"Huuu—"

Zheng Youlan breathed a sigh of relief as well, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"I'm still alive?"

Ning An exhaled again, staring blankly at Zheng Youlan.

"How did I survive?"

"I used a potion," Zheng Youlan said quietly.

"An advanced one."

"..."

Ning An's eyes widened.

He knew exactly how much weight that potion carried.

He hadn't expected Zheng Youlan to actually part with such a thing to save him.

"Big Sister Lanlan," Ning An dropped his head in shame.

"I was too rash."

"Forget it," Zheng Youlan said.

"I'm responsible too."

"He was simply too strong." Even thinking back on it now left Ning An slightly shaken.

"What kind of power was that? A corpse puppet, yet it seemed to possess its own consciousness. And that liquid it drank..."

"Its strength exploded by more than ten times, maybe even more."

Faced with Ning An's questions, Zheng Youlan opened her mouth, then fell silent.

Truthfully, she hadn't figured it out either.

The two of them sat in silence. Neither spoke. Atop the Bone Bird's back, the atmosphere grew suffocatingly tense.

Mostly, it was because the impact of that battle on them—who had grown up in the Central Region—was no less severe than having their entire worldview shattered and rebuilt.

As far as the two of them were concerned, the denizens of every other Domain outside the Central Region were no different from ants. Even the strongest among them were just slightly larger ants.

Even if there was the tiniest fluke—a golden phoenix rising from a chicken coop—it definitely wouldn't stay in that coop for long.

Countless Peerless Heavenly Prodigies from other Domains made establishing roots in the Central Region their very first priority upon maturing.

Otherwise, how far could they possibly progress by locking themselves away in such backwaters?

At any rate, according to what they knew, every single arrogant genius who stayed behind in their original Domain ended up regretting it at the end of their life.

Whenever people from the Central Region descended, no matter what methods those locals used, their laughable pride and confidence would quickly be smashed to pieces.

This belief had governed their entire lives.

But today, that belief hadn't merely been shattered; it had been completely inverted.

They hadn't even caught a glimpse of the man behind the corpse puppet before the puppet itself utterly crushed them.

That battle felt like a message, telling them that their so-called Central Region pride was nothing but a joke.

"Tell me..."

Ultimately, it was Ning An who broke the silence first. He looked at Zheng Youlan.

"Could that corpse puppet belong to him?"

As if worried Zheng Youlan wouldn't catch his meaning, he added a clarification:

"I mean the guy ranked first."

Zheng Youlan nodded, then shook her head.

"Logically analyzing the situation, it can only be him."

"But digging even deeper into logic—you experienced the strength of that corpse puppet just now. Judging by the anomalies, the Corpse path is merely one aspect of one of his many Rituals."

"Do you think... he could truly be that strong? That just a surface-level grasp of that path was enough to crush you, someone who has immersed yourself in it for years?"

Zheng Youlan shook her head.

"I refuse to believe it."

Seeing her shake her head, Ning An actually felt somewhat touched. In his eyes, this was his good friend acknowledging his strength.

Yet internally, he felt more uncertain than ever.

"But what if he really is that strong?"

"Then we have even more reason to pool everyone's strength and kill him."

Zheng Youlan spoke slowly, a murderous chill permeating her tone.

At this moment, the dynamic of their conversation had entirely flipped from before.

Ning An was the one lacking confidence now, while Zheng Youlan had grown even more resolute.

"Let's go. Take us there."

...

...

Yan Jing let out a long breath.

He had finally finished testing everything once again.

Now he felt comfortable.

Following his ascension, all of his Rituals had undergone earth-shattering changes.

Take his first few Rituals for example.

Day Selection Ritual: Fear Sapling (Orange)

Aside from the limitless quantity of Fear Thorns as before, Fear Fruits could now be supplied infinitely, and their generation speed had massively increased.

Fear Seeds were now in infinite supply and could autonomously absorb ambient Weird Energy to spawn Fear Fruits, no longer withering immediately after blooming.

These two points alone could be called a qualitative transformation.

The effect of a Fear Fruit restored one-fifth of his Weird Energy, but now, as long as Weird Energy was present, he could manifest Fear Fruits out of thin air.

This practically turned Yan Jing himself into a limitless font of Weird Energy.

As long as the ambient Weird Energy wasn't cut off.

He could sustain a loop... ambient Weird Energy instantly converting into Fear Fruits, Fear Fruits instantly replenishing his own Weird Energy, and his own Weird Energy spawning more Fear Fruits.

And yet, this wasn't even the most exaggerated change.

More importantly, his Fear Stance had unlocked its fourth form.

As Yan Jing's most frequently used method, Fear Stance had accompanied him through almost his entire combat career.

Unlocking its fourth form now naturally left him overjoyed.

Calming Rite: Lord of Execution's Silk Thread (Orange-Red)

The capacity of the Corpse-Sewing Garment increased from three Death-Sewing Garments to ten Death-Sewing Garments, and its Tier restrictions were removed.

It went without saying that the power of both the Life-Stitching Garment and Death-Sewing Garment had skyrocketed. Beyond that, a new ability for the giant shears had been unlocked.

Cut:

You can cut apart the powers you are familiar with and splice them together using the silk threads.

The so-called familiar powers referred to the powers Yan Jing had mastered.

Yan Jing had already tested it. The intellect represented by Folly, the time represented by February's Faster Time—he could cut and splice them all.

This drastically expanded the versatility of his abilities.

Before this, the shears could only be used for sneak attacks and clearing out weaklings, which had always felt a bit underwhelming.

Incense Burning Rite: Wings of Praying for Death - Chongming (Red)

This Ritual was another one Yan Jing cared deeply about.

Several of Chongming's abilities had been the key to Yan Jing turning the tables on multiple occasions, and now they had all undergone a transformation.

Praying for Death Evolution: the original three nullifications had increased to five, and furthermore, they now ignored Tier differences.

Praying for Death Evolution Active Effect: The original effect of accelerating an opponent's entry into reincarnation was now fused with Yan Jing's time and soul powers. Every active use would cut the target's lifespan by one-fifth of what it had been when the ability was first cast.

Chongming State: From now on, a second stage of the Chongming State could be accessed.

Rite of Summer and Winter Sacrifices: Stone Immortal (Semi-Complete Form) (Red-Silver)

Stone State: The massive boost to mental resistance had evolved into complete immunity to any mental interference.

Immortal State: Aside from boosts to his aura and control effects, all crowd-control effects were now amplified to five times their original strength. If the opponent was of a lower Tier, this effect would multiply to ten times.

If the opponent was of a higher Tier, the effect would be reduced to three times.

And these were only the changes to his first four Rituals.

It was safe to say that right now, having used the Heart of Ascension, Yan Jing had undergone another complete transformation compared to his past self.

A massive change akin to being completely reborn and remade.

An item like this was truly worthy of the title "Unique Item."

After Yan Jing, nothing like the Heart of Ascension would ever appear again.

The woman sitting opposite him still looked radiant and entirely unharmed, but the moment Yan Jing's gaze fell upon her, her body violently shuddered.

It had become almost a conditioned reflex; she couldn't even control herself.

"Want to chat?"

Yan Jing looked at the woman.

"Chat, l-let's chat!"

Hearing this, the woman nodded frantically, as if clutching at a lifeline.