Chapter 83: The Aftereffects of the Shell-like Object (1)

Baichuan suddenly thought of something; he recalled the very moment his Lizhua first appeared.

Sometimes abilities can fuse with one another.

So could he use Tiaoyue fused with the eagle's talons to serve as hind legs?

The reason he chose the eagle's talons was, first, because he had grown used to the power they brought him; second, since he was going to fly—or rather glide—he'd better pick the claws of a flying creature.

Of course, this also had to do with the fact that he couldn't find any other stronger, more suitable creature's Lizhua.

Take a tiger's forelegs, for instance—he'd been drooling over those terrifying forelegs for ages.

Thinking of this, he opened the ability structure library and began searching; he remembered he had hunted a few eagles back in the day.

It didn't take long before he luckily dug up the ability models of a fierce Crested Sea Eagle and a wild rabbit.

Since he had everything he wanted, let the experiment begin!

Baichuan first opened the wild rabbit's ability model and directly selected Tiaoyue LV2—an ability he had despised at the very start, thinking how could a snake possibly move by jumping.

He never thought that in the end, he would still have to choose it.

As he placed this ability at the rear end of his snake body, precisely where the wings extended to their tips.

Immediately, the ability model began to change once more.

There, at the extended tips of Baichuan's ability-model wings, a mass of explosive muscle tissue slowly grew out from the left and right sides.

At once, Baichuan's entire slender snake body ceased to be smooth, sprouting lumps of flesh as if undergoing a mutation.

Baichuan wasn't surprised by this; in fact, this was exactly what he wanted most.

Next, he continued to extract the Lizhua LV2 ability from that Crested Sea Eagle.

The familiar process played out, and the ability began to fuse in on its own.

Representing Baichuan's own ability model changing once again, a pair of hind claws emerged—thicker, sturdier, and sharper than his front claws.

These were claws that made one shudder just at the sight of them.

They were the characteristically massive talons of a forest-dwelling raptor of prey, brimming with a wild, violent aesthetic.

Of course—Baichuan's front claws came from an aerial raptor of prey, the talons of an eagle, that is, a kite.

As an eagle species adept at soaring through the skies with extraordinary endurance, its talons were ultimately not as powerful as those of a forest-dwelling raptor of prey.

Because unlike aerial raptors of prey, forest-dwelling raptors of prey lacked great endurance, and the structure of their chest muscles was not as perfectly built for endurance and a sense of power.

But to make up for that gap, to be able to hunt powerful prey within the dense forest, they evolved a pair of extremely massive, sharp, and lethally deadly talons.

Only such terrifying talons could allow these forest-dwelling raptors of prey to deliver a fatal blow—or inflict wounds terrible enough to kill—when facing prey or formidable foes.

And now, such terrifying Lizhua belonged to Baichuan!

Finally, just before confirming payment, he thought for a moment and extracted 'Qiliu Ganzi LV1' from that same Crested Sea Eagle's ability model.

Then, looking with satisfaction at the current ability model, he nodded to confirm there were no issues, and only then did he click the confirmation pop-up panel.

With the disappearance of 17 points, Baichuan's points once again returned to 2.

And he was instantly swept up by a deep wave of sleepiness and dragged into slumber.

The familiar viscous fluid was secreted once more, completely enveloping Baichuan and transforming him into a smooth, rounded giant egg.

Evolution had begun.

This would be an exceedingly long evolution.

……

Meanwhile, just as Baichuan was preparing to begin his evolution.

In another corner of the world, a tremendous change was also quietly about to take place.

At the rebel army's headquarters, within a deep, dark secret chamber.

"Roar!"

A startling beastly roar rang out, causing the room to tremble faintly.

Amid the flickering, unsteady candlelight, the shadow of a man-beast monster was cast, and the master of that shadow was a monster bound all over by immensely heavy iron chains!

There he sat upon a chair made of solid wood, his entire body covered in fine, dense gray fur, and on the pair of hands clasped behind the chair grew sharp, hard beastly claws.

Looking closely at that vaguely human-like face, the eyes were a bloodshot red, filled with the unique brutality of beasts, utterly lacking the clarity and wisdom of a human.

He howled madly, endlessly straining upward with those thick, gray-furred arms, trying to break free of the chains binding him.

Yet no matter how he struggled, he could not escape the massive iron chains specially arranged for him.

"It worked, it really worked!"

Though the scene before her eyes was so terrifying and horrifying, standing to the side was an old woman whose face was wild with joy.

She gazed at the raving monster before her, an irrepressible joy on her face, murmuring to herself.

"Hiss~ hiss~"

As if sensing her joyful mood, the green venomous snake on the old woman's back also let out sounds that seemed to carry joy, as if happy for its master.

Seeing this, the old woman laughed, her laughter squeezing all the wrinkles on her face together like a chrysanthemum on the verge of wilting from lack of water.

She extended a rough, coarse palm and stroked the great snake's head, expressing her joy.

Then she turned once more to look behind her.

There stood a basin burning with raging flames.

Above the fire basin sat a mysterious porcelain jar, inside which some strange substance was being boiled—constantly arching the lid and occasionally releasing bubbles of eerie colors.

From a distance, it looked just like some eerie old witch brewing some harmful poison.

The old woman simply watched, simply watched that boiling porcelain jar, her gaze so tender, as if she were looking at some treasure or hope.

After a long while, as the porcelain jar suddenly flung off its lid, the old woman finally murmured in a voice so low it was barely audible:

"After spending so much effort, this old woman has finally found the true use of that Dragon Species shell-shedding. Surely he would be happy now, wouldn't he!"

Sighing, she began to lift the porcelain jar and pour out the strange liquid within—which had now grown somewhat viscous—into a container made of an oblong piece of wood.

She then carefully placed the container into the inner pocket of the garment against her chest.

She seemed entirely unaware that it was still radiating waves of heat.

After tidying up these things, the old woman, who was about to leave the secret chamber, suddenly paused mid-step. She looked toward the shell-like object still placed on a table in the distance.

That was precisely the shed shell left behind after the Dragon Species had departed — something they had paid the lives of countless brothers to seize.

She thought for a moment, then returned to the side of the table.

……

(End of this chapter)