Chapter 54: The Holy Mother's Big Family

【Detected evolution material: Shattered Pseudo-Long Longlong Soul (Gold). Absorb?】

At this moment, Li En was momentarily stunned.

He turned sharply, his Dragon Eyes activating automatically, and only then noticed that above Kveirdov's corpse, a hideous pseudo-dragon phantom faintly loomed.

"Reject? Why reject?" Both body and soul instinctively craved evolution; without time to think seriously, Li En had already subconsciously granted permission.

Thus, the "Dragon Blood" on the sword blade he held was instantly drained, becoming the catalyst linking spirit and flesh.

That pseudo-dragon phantom lunged forward voluntarily, absorbed by Li En's physical body.

【Creature Grade: Rough Stone, Status: Strength 6(13), Constitution 7(11), Agility 5(6), Spirit 6(16)】

In a mere instant, the original Rough Stone grade completed its breakthrough.

The other numbers also began to shift vaguely, seemingly about to increase.

Li En felt that beneath his flesh, something was breaking through the soil.

【Please find a safe area for Dragon Sleep as soon as possible to facilitate completing the evolution.】

But now, clearly, was not the time to wait for evolution.

He took a deep breath and looked at his opponent.

Although he could not strengthen himself before the battle, this was at least good news.

Yet, he still underestimated the Heroic Soul Codex.

【Evolution Material: Shattered Pseudo-Long Longlong Soul (Gold) decomposed. Analyzed materials 'Pseudo-Dragon (Gold)', 'Flame (Bai Yin)', 'Volcano (Bai Yin)' have been added to the Material Library.】

【Material Library detected usable evolution material. Automatically used 'Flame (Bai Yin)'. Racial Talent Dragon Flame (Scorching the World) activated. Subordinate Ability 'Mana Release (Flame)' activated.】

Then, just like the previous "Dragon Eyes" and "Dragon Claws", Li En subconsciously gripped his sword and swung.

Faint flames flowed from his palm, covering the blade; the Flame Sword was thus born.

The flames were thin and faint, their intensity not even matching a barbecue fire pit, looking very weak, but

"What is this..." Maria, already driven to a dead end yet still remaining calm, subconsciously retreated.

Looking at that fragile flame, she instinctively felt fear.

Li En was also confused, but that did not stop him from applying verbal pressure.

"Regarding your abilities, you don't really think you are immortal, do you?" This was no lie; he felt dragon-type power was naturally suppressing against beasts.

"Then that's not so good... How about you let me go? I'll pretend I know nothing, and I won't commit crimes again."

The nun smiled slightly, twisting her head, seeming genuinely troubled.

"Heh, an animal's (beast's) promise; do you think I would believe it?"

Only instinctive "beasts" would mimic human speech, even understanding its meaning.

But to them, language was merely a tool; they did not care what they spoke.

Pretending to cry like an infant was just to lure in delicious prey.

Facing exterminators, constantly howling "It hurts, spare me" was just to make opponents lower their guard.

If lies helped with survival or hunting, then every single one of their words would be a lie.

"A beast without a heart... Even if I don't know why you still disguise yourself so much like a human, today is destined to be your end."

"Sigh, actually I don't want to fight. Wouldn't it be great if we left each other alone? My appetite isn't that big. How about I give you my territory and I move elsewhere?"

From the very beginning, both sides' communication was not on the same level.

Li En spoke of crime, promises, and justice in a social form, while the monster named "Maria" at this moment was merely asking an outsider who invaded her territory why they must stop her "hunting".

I am hungry, I want to eat; isn't that a normal need for me?

Those previous "revenge" acts were not due to anger, humiliation, or retribution, but simply "You invaded my hunting ground, I must assert my sovereignty" to prevent future hunting from being affected.

All along, monsters wore human skin, pretending to understand humans well, yet no one ever discovered it...

"Truly a disgusting monster, daring to talk about justice to a knight."

Recalling that Larry had previously been lectured on justice by it, even taking it seriously, Li En's mood grew even worse.

This was not the thought of this "fake", but the thought of Nun Maria.

Nun Maria, perhaps, had always been praying, praying for a righteous person to save her and this dirty city.

These thoughts, these ideas, perhaps had wandered in her mind countless times; otherwise, the monster would not have spoken them so easily.

This monster merely recited these "words" at the appropriate moments, like a machine handling stress, responding to external stimuli according to instinct.

Maria longed for justice, so the monster wearing Maria's skin would also talk about justice to draw closer to righteous people.

Why draw closer to humans? Of course, it was the beast's instinct, for easier hunting.

"No need to wait anymore, it's useless." And when she confirmed the death match was unavoidable, Maria smiled and tore apart the reason Li En had been waiting for.

Her gaze turned to Talia behind Li En; in her hand, that wooden sword was still slowly burning.

The entire cave already had a thick scent of incense; Li En had been stalling time for this very reason.

"Since I knew this was a weakness, how could I not overcome it? I sleep smelling this every night; smelling it, smelling it, I got used to it... Heh, I am not like those impure little ones."

The nun's gaze swept over the wooden carving transformed from Tian Ba; those shining eyes seemed to hold some emotion, some sigh.

Was it contempt for the weak? Sympathy for a kindred spirit? Or was it the false emotion of a exquisite disguise?

No, Li En saw it; it should be joy, the joy of having one less competitor for food!

"You say it's useless, so it's useless?" At this moment, Li En was also a bit numb; how could the weakness he just found truly be ineffective?

But the incense was already so thick he was sneezing, yet the opponent did not attack proactively; it seemed this time it was not a lie.

"As expected, it still comes down to a head-on clash." Li En took a deep breath, seeming quite sighing and helpless.

But the Dragon Eyes captured that instant... the instant the nun blinked!

"Break Evil."

In that mere instant of gap, Li En was already within arm's reach of the nun.

The "tricks" brought by the combat experience of that heroic soul forcibly created the effect of a daylight ambush.

And the "Speed Boots" made all of this possible.

"Clang."

The sword was blocked.

Unlike the casual beheading before, this time Maria did not let the flames touch her flesh.

How was it blocked? Could this black-robed nun's habit be a divine artifact? At this moment, everyone was a bit stunned.

The sword edge pressed against the outer layer of the nun's black robe, yet Li En's sword could not come down for a long time!

"Aaaah!" Li En held the sword with both hands, the brute force enhanced by the Power Gloves, trying to swing the sword with full strength to slay this demon.

But what was pushed down further was himself!

"Flame!"

He gritted his teeth, changing the chop into a Kasaya slash; the sword path suddenly retracted with a pull, then slashed diagonally upward.

"Clang!"

But this time, it was blocked by something again.

Unable to understand what happened, Li En retreated, maintaining a safe distance.

In the next moment, he had already seen what blocked his sword.

He instinctively sucked in a breath of cold air; the data was not only real, but having witnessed it with his own eyes, it was even more outrageous than expected.

"Child, do not run around." The nun was still so gentle.

The flames and the sword edge did not harm the nun, but destroyed part of her nun's habit, also revealing the "thing" under her clothes that blocked Li En.

At her waist was the upper body of a tiny infant; his little hand had just pulled Li En's sword!

And on her left shoulder was another one.

"Kevin. Er, it should be Brandi, do not put everything into your mouth." And the nun "Maria" also stopped that head from stuffing the broken strips of cloth into its mouth.

"Truly mad, completely mad, these anthropomorphic things!" At this moment, Li En's heart was filled with utter rage.

Not only against the demon before his eyes, but also against the bottomless cultists of the sect.

The birth of a Horn Disciple is the fusion of a "Little Beast" and a human.

And the cultivation of the Little Beast is the result of the "Little Horn" (the harvested tail/horn), as a pure life crystal, being taken into the mother's womb for re-cultivation.

Most Little Beasts are in canine form simply because female dogs are easier to sell, and the Little Beasts cultivated from them are relatively gentle and easy to control, with intelligence neither too high nor too low.

Generally speaking, a Horn Disciple will only incorporate one Little Beast; if two are incorporated, they will quickly lose their sense of self and rapidly self-destruct.

This was also the reason why He Ke hurriedly bit off the "new head" before; otherwise, the beastification factors would soon cause him to lose control completely.

Even if they are all Little Beasts, different genes and their respective instincts will cause mutual conflict leading to self-destruction.

And what did Maria do?

"She turned her own children into Little Horns..." This is the root of her fall, the reason she was persuaded to participate in this experiment.

"Eternal happiness together with the children" was the deception the sect gave her.

And the eerie reality is that she not only believed it, but also seemingly turned it into a reality in some sense.

"She gave birth to the Little Horns made from her children using her own body, and then swallowed them, integrating them into her own body. Since they were all her own genetic children, her rejection rate was not high... but she, exactly how many 'children' did she eat."

At this moment, Maria, no longer concealing anything, allowed the "children" on her body to act.

Little hands and little heads one by one tore through the black robe and drilled out; the heads and arms writhing under that clothes made the witnesses' sanity plummet and their scalps go numb.

One, two... five; just at this moment, the "infants" who showed their heads and looked at the outside world with pure pupils numbered a full five.

"Specimen 113, internal experiment code 'Holy Mother's Big Family'... truly has quite a sick sense of humor."

Sometimes, "humans" with human hearts are far more bottomless than beasts.

Li En gripped the sword tightly, and anger ignited in his heart.

This was destined to be a bitter battle, yet he was very much looking forward to it.

"Let me, end all of this."

(End of this chapter)