Chapter 143: The Twins Upon the Throne

Three minutes later, accompanied by a massive surge of water, a colossal deep-sea beast slowly appeared before Baichuan's eyes.

It was a monster shaped like a blue whale but with the head of a giant squid, countless tentacles covered in vast numbers of crimson eyes, the whole thing looking like the monster's hair.

"Moo——!!!"

A long, distant, ethereal cry rang out, stirring the seawater into violent turbulence — that was because the energy carried within the sound was too intense, just like Baichuan's dragon chant.

After this sound, Baichuan, who had just been about to make a move, froze.

Because he understood the meaning within that sound: "Half… half-body… fuse, fuse…"

It was a broken, halting utterance, as if the one who spoke it possessed no complete intelligence, or its mind was too immature, leaving its entire consciousness muddled, and every word it uttered was like delirium.

And at this moment, prompted by that sound, Baichuan finally realized that he actually harbored a deep, heartfelt longing for this monster.

It was as if he himself was incomplete, and as long as he devoured it — or rather, fused with it — he could become whole.

But he had evolved from an ordinary snake all the way to the present; how could he be incomplete? If he was incomplete, then the only possibility was…

This bizarre sensation instantly brought back the feeling of loss within his body after he had just finished evolving with the blood worm's ability.

That feeling, as if a small piece of himself had been lost, was exactly the same as now.

Then, he perhaps understood.

Baichuan gazed at this colossal monster, silently thinking.

Too bad it found the wrong snake — its other half was a worm, not a snake.

And it was already dead, killed by him no less!

And he didn't want to fuse with such a thing either; no one knew what would happen after fusion, but he also wanted to obtain its ability to evolve himself into completeness, so then…

Thinking of this, Baichuan's gaze gradually cooled, his body slowly gathering strength, the Light Points within him beginning to flow — this meant he was about to unleash a slaughter.

"Moo~~?"

However, it seemed Baichuan had not responded for too long, and this colossal beast let out another long cry — a questioning one.

Then it slowly drew near the Jiao-snake. At this moment, Baichuan, who had long been prepared to act, instinctively lashed out with his tail fin. In an instant, the sharp tail fin Burst, a white water-line slicing through, directly severing several of the beast's tentacles.

Immediately, several tentacles were swept away by the violent current, copious fresh blood gushing out, turning the surroundings into a murky mess.

"Moo~~ moo~?"

Despite having clearly been attacked, the beast showed no sign of counterattack, merely shrinking back in grievance, its numerous flailing tentacles clutching its own head — the whole posture like a child who, after being hit, cowers in a corner hugging its head and trembling.

Yet even in such grievance and fear, it still mustered its courage to tentatively let out a questioning sound, as if wondering why it was being attacked — what had it done wrong? Or was it being rejected?

That voice, that tone, that manner — for a moment, Baichuan was struck by an inexplicable sense of guilt, as if he were bullying a good child who had come over wanting to play with him.

If not for the beast's massive, terrifying body still before his eyes, its behavior was exactly like a little tag-along who couldn't find its big brother.

In his daze, Baichuan was struck by an illusion.

And in Baichuan's daze, this aggrieved beast before him seemed to think of something, and after letting out a sound like one presenting a treasure.

In an instant, its squid-like head slowly opened.

That's right — literally.

Vast numbers of hair-like tentacles parted to either side, the flesh splitting apart directly, revealing tender, crimson flesh within.

At the very center, embedded and fused within the brain, was a glowing crimson Crystal. That Crystal was incomparably brilliant, radiating a heart-entrancing light within the depths of the dark sea, resembling the source of all martial artists' power in the Great Zhou — the Martial Stone.

For a moment, a tremendous longing surged within Baichuan's heart; his body seemed overtaken by an impulse, ceaselessly calling out to him —

Devour it!

Devour it!!

Devour it and you shall be complete!!!

Baichuan's eyes began to redden, a peculiar drop of liquid inadvertently sliding from the corner of his mouth, mixing into the seawater — that was instinct from his body.

Seeing the Jiao-snake before it now looking hungry and feverish, with eyes as if wanting to devour it alive, the beast's body visibly trembled slightly, seemingly in fear and dread.

But it did not flee; its crimson eyes seemed to flash with a fleeting sorrow, and it drew a few meters closer.

In the deep sea, that heart-entrancing light grew ever more brilliant.

Countless strange fish seemed to want to approach, yet feared this beast, hovering indecisively in the surrounding darkness.

At this moment, the beast before him had clearly exposed its most vulnerable part — that Crystal resembling a Martial Stone.

Of course, the essence of a Martial Stone is purely a large quantity of white Light Points gathered together, forming a stone-like substance after departing from the original host's body, but what was before him was different — it was similarly formed by a creature resembling a blood worm.

Unfortunately, however, its overall shape was missing a portion — so where was the missing part?

It had been destroyed by Baichuan, and its ability had been plundered.

That's right — it was that blood worm from back then.

At this moment, Baichuan felt the frantic desire within him — that was the instinct, or perhaps the desire, of a creature pursuing completeness!

Yet facing this situation, he actively retreated a few steps, gazed at the beast's somewhat puzzled crimson eyes, and gently closed his eyes.

Only after a long while did he open them again; at this moment he truly understood why, after completing his evolution back then, he had inexplicably felt a sense of incompleteness within himself.

It turned out the blood worm was incomplete! It was still missing a part — the part before him now!

Baichuan hesitated for the first time; looking at this beast that held not a trace of hostility toward him, he was also somewhat indecisive.

At this point he also discovered that this beast seemed to possess no developed intelligence.

Or rather, this beast and that blood worm were originally one entity — it was simply that one carried intelligence and controlled the power of Light Points, while the other governed the physical body.

Because through this brief contact, Baichuan had also discovered that although this beast also belonged to the blood worm, it possessed no power to produce Light Points.

It only had a body far more massive and terrifying than the blood worm's, and the ability to swallow his Light Points and convert them into its own power.

Of course, throughout the entire process he could actively refuse — it felt as if it was his vassal, its power and its very existence meant for this moment, meant for him.

As long as he devoured it, he could truly become a complete individual, possessing both a massive body that no longer needed to worry about energy, and the ability to wield Light Points, using them to control all things.

When the two fused, it would become a perfect creature! And that would be its true form.

At this moment, Baichuan suddenly realized.

Perhaps that bloodworm and the giant beast before him were not creatures of this planet, because such powerful and bizarre species did not seem like something an ordinary planet could give birth to.

Perhaps they came from some far more distant place.

Realizing this, what choice should he make?

Baichuan smiled once more, feeling the wild, impulsive desire within his body, as well as the massive beast laid bare before his eyes.

Yet his consciousness grew even calmer; he gently bent one sharp claw, slowly lowered his head to examine it for a moment, felt the cutting sensation of that claw slicing through the seawater, and then extended it outward.

However, the power within his body moved in the opposite direction to the claw he extended — it did not surge again, but slowly returned to calm.

At this moment, he made a choice completely opposite to the one he had faced with the bloodworm: he ignored his body's instinctive impulse and chose not to slaughter it, but to spare it.

Because he was not that bloodworm at all — he had no need to seize its massive body. The body's impulse was merely an effect brought on by his incomplete abilities; he could evolve to completeness entirely on his own.

Besides, there were still some doubts he had not figured out, and resolving them might require obtaining its Ability Panel.

Moreover, the ways he could acquire ability models were not limited to eating — there was also scanning.

The mindless young beast before him was harmless to him; there was no conflict between them to begin with, so he chose to let it go.

He discovered that this giant beast might be of some help to his future plans — though it would be fine without it as well.

In any case, keeping one more pet now was no trouble at all. The behavior of this giant beast had earned his trust — as long as he liked it, that was enough.

Not to mention that he didn't need to worry about a thing: judging by the Time that bloodworm from the Great Zhou had existed, this giant beast was undoubtedly at least a thousand years old as well.

Thinking this, Baichuan inwardly smiled as he withdrew the claw he had extended before the giant beast, and his gaze returned to calm.

He gently stroked the giant beast's chin with the back of his toe, and said lightly, "I don't need to devour you. Put your head away."

"Moo~~?" A flicker of puzzlement passed through the giant beast's eyes, and it let out a questioning, soft cry.

Of course, though puzzled, it obediently retracted its split head, because it existed for him.

Baichuan did not reply, but had it follow him as he dove downward; then together they coiled upon the seabed, staying right beside him, because he still needed to scan.

Throughout the entire process, the giant beast stayed closely behind his tail, never leaving for a moment — so well-behaved it didn't seem like a monster at all, but rather like a little fellow constantly afraid he would abandon it.

For some reason, looking at this somewhat uneasy and timid giant beast, Baichuan was reminded of the little fellow he had once kept.

He gently emitted wave after wave of soft, special fluctuations, slowly soothing its unease.

This was a special application of his compulsion-type abilities; its unease was something he had also picked up through this ability.

At this moment, he seemed to fall into reminiscence, thinking of his past life.

When he first met that little dog, it seemed to have been on a heavy, rainy day. He was on his way back from work when he saw it in a cardboard box.

Back then, he could barely manage to feed himself, yet for some inexplicable reason, after much hesitation, he still picked it up and brought it home.

After many twists and turns, he managed to save its life while already drowning in debt, and from then on that little fellow clung to him — just like the giant beast now.

Looking back now, his behavior back then was simply the height of foolishness.

To think he had burdened himself with debt for the sake of a little dog.

At this moment, Baichuan, recalling the past, scorned his former self — a complete idiot.

Of course, it would have been more convincing if he could ignore that gentle look in his eyes…

(End of Chapter)