Chapter 33: Offspring Fusion Upgrade, Shadow-Eating Great Snake (Requesting Monthly Passes, Requesting)

Jiang Yan's expression turned to surprise; according to the handwriting written by Zhao Zhao Yinman, among the skills extracted from the Disease Domain, the most difficult to obtain were those of the Avatar type.

Next came Practice Methods, divination, and curse-type special abilities, while attack and defense types ranked last.

Because having an avatar is equivalent to having an additional "self,"

and being an extension of the same consciousness, it can cooperate perfectly, doubling one's combat power.

Most crucially, it fears no death; at critical moments, it can be used to die in one's stead.

"And my avatar can also revive; if the cost is not high, I can fully attempt the 【Self-Detonation Flow】 tactic."

Jiang Yan had already thought of multiple usage methods in his mind; most crucially, hiding within shadows makes it impossible to guard against.

"It is a pity that Old Man Chu has gone into seclusion; otherwise, I could have asked where it came from. In the future, I must pay more attention to Disease Domains or historical artifacts related to Xiang Liu."

Jiang Yan pondered in his heart: just having a faint bloodline is already this terrifying; it is hard to imagine the effects of a weak bloodline, or even after atavism.

Perhaps... it truly can give birth to an Epic-class, or even a Legendary-class offspring.

Ding!

While he was pondering, another fruit detached, transforming into a rust-red light sphere that looked like a bizarre mask.

【Steadfast Assistance】

【Skill-Type Offspring】

【Quality: Common】

【Description: The Red Iron Cauldron, a spirit of the cauldron, born with a love for combat. Once it locks onto an opponent, it will fight to the death, until both are destroyed.】

Or, after defeating a strong enemy, it absorbs ore from copper veins to transform into a Brass Cauldron.】

Transforming into a skill, it greatly boosts combat power by burning life force and blood qi, causing battle intent to boil.】

Prolonged use will shorten lifespan and cause loss of sanity; the Lord of the Demon God Embryo is exempt from this side effect.】

【Combat... is exhilarating!】

Jiang Yan did not rush to return to the Present Realm for fusion; instead, he summoned the 【Shadow Shifting】 offspring and the 【Purifying Mouth】.

In the skill form of 【Shadow Shifting】, it appeared as a white, slender monkey, its consciousness dim, lacking complete thought.

Jiang Yan had realized a problem long ago.

As skills increase, not only does the pull of the River of History accelerate, but his energy also fails to keep up; after all, unless promoted to the Control Level, skills will not cultivate automatically.

A massive accumulation of skills will not make him omnipotent; instead, it easily leads to bloating.

Therefore, subtraction is a necessity.

Fuse skills with similar or proximate abilities together, discard the dross, keep only the essence, and even birth special effects.

But one cannot combine them randomly, as this easily causes conflict between different offspring; otherwise, even if forcibly fused together via the Demon God Embryo, it will affect the quality of the final product.

And 【Shadow Shifting】 possesses both shadow and flesh-body control effects, making it just right to serve as a lubricant between the 【Two-Headed Shadow Poison Hook Snake】 and 【Steadfast Assistance】.

As for the Purifying Mouth, it belongs to Jiang Yan's sudden inspiration.

After all, this artifact is not of high grade, and each use requires separate activation to swallow massive amounts of flesh and blood in exchange for life force.

If a sudden situation arises, one would be left dumbfounded on the spot.

Better to integrate it into the avatar, allowing it to devour enemies to heal oneself, gaining terrifying sustainability.

It can also grow alongside the avatar!

Killing multiple birds with one stone.

Thinking of this, Jiang Yan whispered:

"My offspring, fuse!"

As the words fell,

the Two-Headed Shadow Poison Hook Snake understood the Master's intent; the two heads opened their blood-filled maws and sequentially swallowed the other three offspring.

Rustle!

The roots of the Dark Mother Tree spread out, wrapping around it.

The latter also actively accepted the embrace of the "Mother Goddess," beginning to fuse and gestate, transforming into a dark golden fruit.

The next second, the fruit cracked open; what appeared was still the two-headed snake, but its appearance had undergone earth-shattering changes.

Mysterious rust-red patterns floated upon its black scales; beneath the scales lay white down invisible to the naked eye, faintly shimmering with a metallic luster, while shadows flowed within it like water.

The originally forked hook tail became even more slender and sharp, like a soul-hooking scythe.

Each snake head was covered by a pale mask bearing rust-red mysterious patterns and emitting a cold gleam, revealing only scarlet eyes and a serpentine giant mouth, as if ready to devour all living things.

Yet it was not ugly; instead, it carried a sense of mystery and an inexplicable...

Sanctity.

Like an ancient snake totem sculpted on bronze ware.

And its information had also undergone massive changes.

【Avatar — Two-Headed Shadow-Eating Great Snake (Proficiency 1%)】

【Quality: Perfect】

【Description: A Perfect-class offspring born after the Lord of the Demon God Embryo fused four offspring and re-gestated.】

The Shadow-Eating Great Snake controls shadows; white down grows beneath its scales, allowing free passage through shadows. Its attacks add lethal toxins, and it possesses the desire to devour the shadows and blood qi of living beings, along with an endless thirst for battle.】

The bearer can control their own flesh and blood, possessing extremely strong perception and adaptability to the outside world, able to adapt to different environments. After injury, wounds can be healed through eating, shedding skin, or deep sleep, and life force can be feedback to the user.】

Combat power can be greatly increased by crushing one avatar snake head, or by sacrificing one's own blood qi and life force; these effects can stack.】

After a single head is crushed, it can be repaired by eating the shadows of living beings; if both are crushed simultaneously, one must seek flesh and shadows of snake-type diseased creatures above the Foundation Realm to repair it.】

【It is your loyal claw and fang】

All skills were fused, and it also inherited a trace of Xiang Liu's immortality trait.

It can substitute its own damage by sacrificing a head.

In other words,

Jiang Yan could sacrifice himself three times at a critical moment.

"But if that time truly comes, it should be the ultimate desperate situation within a desperate situation."

The chaotic qi before Jiang Yan's eyes dissipated, and he returned once more to the mortal world.

A beam of black light silently flowed into Jiang Yan's shadow.

The Coffin Spirit beside him remained vigilant, scanning the surroundings with bright eyes, head held high and chest out.

Looking every bit a loyal imperial guard.

Another day of successfully completing the master's mission!

"Let's go!"

Jiang Yan pushed open the door and walked out!

By late night, the number of attendees at the Dharma Assembly had reached its peak; many people outside waited to rotate into private rooms to organize the gains from this journey.

Among them were some lowly practitioners of heterodox arts, searching for targets.

One emaciated man with shifty eyes watched Jiang Yan emerge and narrowed his gaze.

He clearly remembered that when this person entered, he carried two large demon materials, yet upon exiting, they were gone.

Even refining blood and qi with a Dark Art couldn't be that fast, could it?

Could it be...

A precious storage artifact?

Greed sprouted in the man's heart; he specialized in theft. If he could pull off this big score, he could rest this year... no, next year as well.

Just as he prepared to follow, he noticed Jiang Yan's shadow beneath his feet rapidly lengthening.

In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a terrifying, grotesque giant two-headed snake shadow, its crimson eyes staring at him indifferently.

Locking eyes for a moment,

"Th-this... what is it!?"

The emaciated man trembled all over, his teeth chattering up and down, as if he might be swallowed and buried in the snake's belly at any moment.

At this moment, his life no longer belonged to him!

The snake shadow moved.

Darkness spread like a tide; terrified, he collapsed to the ground, shouting:

"There's a snake! Help! Don't eat me!"

However, after a long while, he was not eaten; instead, the sneering laughter of his companions reached his ears:

"You idiot, did you use too much strength on a woman's belly yesterday? Are you hallucinating? Where on earth is a snake around here?"

"It was right there..."

The emaciated man pointed toward the direction Jiang Yan had gone, but saw only the ordinary shadow behind him swaying.

As for the giant two-headed snake just now, it had vanished without a trace.

It seemed it was merely his hallucination.

Slap!

The emaciated man slumped to the ground, then fiercely slapped himself hard.

Then, rolling and crawling, he knelt on the ground, ignoring his companions' strange glances, and kowtowed, saying:

"Thank you, Grandpa, for sparing this dog's life!"

This display drew a crowd of onlookers.

Jiang Yan paid no attention to the commotion behind him and walked straight onto the street.

Bathed in moonlight, the shadow behind him slowly lengthened, gently swaying like a dancing snake.

He chuckled lightly:

"Welcome to the new world!"

(End of this chapter)