|This worthless servant greets your excellency!|
The voice that reverberated inside Han De's head sounded... highly respectful.
'S#$%… S#$%, S#$%, S#$%...'
Han De -who was still in lotus position-, looked around the dim cave. The communication jade was still silent. The excruciatingly painful headache that had suddenly appeared a few minutes ago, was the least of his worries now.
|This worthless servant apologizes for his incompetence. This worthless servant's body is too large. It cannot enter the immortal cave that your excellency has carved.|
This way of communication reminded Han De of the Cronenberg chef and the void grandpa. Similar, but also remarkably simpler. Nuance and intensity were completely lacking.
At the same time, a mass of spiritual energy and pressure appeared far above. There was no way to mistake this energy for something else. The memory of the netherdemons called leviathans was fresh in Han De's mind.
'OK, relax. I expected this. Relax. Be cool. Be cool. I've made plans for just these occasions…'
Indeed, Han De had many contingency plans for a variety of situations. Some of them were rather farfetched, but as he witnessed during the final moments aboard the jury-rigged celestial ship, his plans weren't farfetched enough. Clearly, it was Xianxia: 2, Han De: 0. An unacceptable result. But now wasn't the time to reconsider the past events.
Right now, he was fresh out of tribulation. He had fled and carved this single-room cave hundreds of meters underneath a riverbed. His body was failing. His memory was fading. His medicine wasn't working. His messages to his family weren't getting through. He was alone.
Not all was lost, but it was getting dangerously close. Now that there was an opportunity, Han De chose desperate measures and tried to squeeze out his last bit of courage. To speak, with a mildly displeased tone.
"A worm that can't shrink its body? Am I hearing that right?"
Silence ensued. Han De was confident in his "Close Encounter with the Nether Kind: Higher Being Edition" series of plans. The first step was to gauge the effect of his bloodline. He tried his best to ignore the suspicious headache and stared at the status screen.
[Aura of the Progenitor]
[Higher beings touched by the aura cannot be disrespectful.]
[Notes: Cannot be detected by lower beings.]
[Scent of the Progenitor]
[Beings evolved from spiritual animals will pay their respects when they detect the scent. Beings evolved from the netherworld will accept your rule when they detect the scent.]
[Notes: Effects will be extremely limited on lower beings.]
Highly respectful and deferential tone? Without ever seeing him? Must be the aura. Must be a higher being. And a netherworld being on top of that? Han De would be a fool not to use, no, -abuse-, his advantage.
The uncomfortable silence remained. Beads of sweat forming in Han De's forehead were completely unrelated to the situation. He wasn't nervous at all. Not one bit. It was probably the headache that was causing it. Probably.
'…'
Above, far above, the mass of spiritual energy fluctuated.
'F#$%… Don't Final Flash me, please…'
Han De was too preoccupied to notice a crucial point. How could a normal Core Formation detect spiritual energy fluctuations of this nature? Detecting the spiritual waves of a higher major realm should've been impossible.
Not only he was sensing the energy, but he could also somewhat understand its spatial relation.
Whatever was happening, it was happening somewhere extremely far away. Yet Han De could sense that the mass of energy was violently compressing itself at a frightening pace.
Of course, he wasn't even a Core Formation expert anymore. But he didn't notice that either.
What felt like an eternity later, the mass of spiritual energy disappeared and reappeared, right in front of Han De.
|This worthless servant greets your excellency.|
It was as if a sun had appeared right in front of him. Han De couldn't help but reflexively look away. In truth, there wasn't any light in the cave, it only felt like there was to his spiritual sense. He had no idea why his body interpreted spiritual energy as intense light, and unfortunately, it wasn't the time to ponder on such things.
Han De fixed his facial expressions and equipped the Profound Expert A persona. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the now miniature-sized leviathan.
The so-called leviathan had changed since the last time Han De saw them. Before they were like flying sandworms straight out of Arrakis, now it was a strange mixture of a stone snake and tattered whale flippers. The dirty grey scales that covered it from head to tail lacked any luster, making it look like a flying statue, rather than a living being. The leviathan's appearance satisfied the definition of the word ancient. Only a few meters long at most, but still ancient!
"Quite the bold greeting…"
The open-ended statement was only for Han De to get his bearings. Easily misinterpretable statements were the bread and butter of the Profound Expert series.
The leviathan lowered its head until its tiny chin touched the ground.
'F#$%… is it… vibrating? Don't… Don't do that…'
Han De would've missed it if he didn't have the eyes of a cultivator.
And why would a leviathan vibrate ever so slightly? A solitary monster that bathed in the miasma of the netherworld for millions of years. A freak species even among the nether-kind, known for their relentless hunger, now uncontrollably shaking?
Unfortunately, not even the leviathan itself knew what was happening. Its bloodline was screaming for it to run! Nothing else mattered!
Even more unfortunately, it was incapable of doing so. Though leviathans had a different cultivation path, they still possessed enough intuition to judge the events without knowing the full picture. It was through that level of intuition, the leviathan was able to tell that its existence was standing on a thin line.
Not that the concept of death would bother a leviathan, nor would they be worried about being outside the cycle of reincarnation. However, both were far more preferable to non-existence.
"Hmph. I suppose you'll do…"
Uncontrollable joy swept away the terror. The joy of being acknowledged by a being linked to its creation was simply unimaginable!
At the same time, the leviathan was inwardly shocked. Was this being, really linked to its creation? When did that happen? Soon that did not matter. Numerous ancient bloodlines that it possessed seemed to have come to a consensus. Or maybe they felt threatened by that single drop of blood essence it received inside the tribulation realm.
Meanwhile, Han De became 90% sure that this leviathan wouldn't do anything to hurt him. Maybe. He was at least 80% sure. Probably.
He was at least confident enough to ask a few questions…
He sighed wearily with a 'could've been worse…' expression all over his face. This was the most basic technique of doublespeak that Han De had developed to talk with higher cultivation experts. All those emotions were genuine, the only difference was the reason.
'Yeah, this could work. Interacting with the netherworld creatures should be taboo, but F#$% that! My life is more important.'
As Han De's confidence increased, so did the leviathan's. However, there was something else that also increased. What started as a minor headache had officially turned into teeth clenching pain. If it wasn't for his constant image training, Han De would've started howling by now.
"This body, and its senses are… limited. What is its current condition? Be concise."
|This worthless servant dares no to presume, your excellenc-|
"Be. Concise."
|Thi-|
Han De narrowed his eyes. The leviathan dared not to delay and quickly spoke.
|… The body is in the critical stage of metamorphosis...|
"… I'm in what now?"
Han De wasn't sure if he heard it right. Surely this flying statue of a snake didn't actually say metamorphosis. Suddenly, Han De's mind was jolted awake. He had forgotten about healing his body, over and over again.
Despite the fact that he was treating the leviathan's words with suspicion, Han De still believed it. At an intellectual level, he knew not to trust a random expert, let alone a netherworld higher being. Bloodline or not, this was Xianxia 101 after all. Unfortunately, the reality wasn't so black and white.
Though Han De himself wasn't aware of this, deep inside he knew that this insignificant worm in front of him wouldn't dare to speak lies in his presence.
"Continue…"
|Your majesty's body is in a state of metamorphosis brought by the… strange condition of the body and soul. The meridians are in the Nascent Soul realm, but...|
Human cultivation was a mystery for the leviathan. It only knew about the terms. Connecting the dots and correctly deducing the condition took a few seconds.
|...The soul is half in the Spirit Origin realm, and yet the connection between the body and the soul is reminiscent of the Unity Realm. The pathways opened up by the constitution looks to be nearing the Immortal Realm stage.|
Han De felt his thoughts starting to become foggy. Even listening to the leviathan required tremendous effort. A dull panic set in after realizing he had felt like this once before.
| ...annot interfere with the process, but if your majesty wishes to switch over to another body, there ar-|
'No. I'm not going to switch to another body…
…
Unless it is the last option...'
The leviathan couldn't hear Han De's thoughts, but his deep rejection was as clear as day. At the same time, it recognized the signs of the deep meditative state.
The last thing Han De remembered was replying 'yes' to the system's prompt.
Now that the consciousness of the being had entered a deep slumber, the leviathan could think a lot more clearly.
Though it was unsure why this unimaginable being had possessed the body of this unlucky human, and how much power can be safely driven through that broken human body, the leviathan didn't care. Usually, extraordinary beings had the tendency to overpower anything and everything on their path. Temporary weakness was meaningless because it was temporary to begin with.
Hence, the leviathan stayed. It wasn't prudence that stopped it from fleeing. The thought of staying and serving while the being was weak to reap the benefits later didn't even occur to the leviathan. It simply couldn't leave because it had already swallowed the single drop of blood essence during the tribulation.
In reality, that tribulation wasn't a tribulation at all. No heavenly lightning had struck, no heavenly pressure had come down. Quite peculiar, but not an unexcepted turn of events in hindsight.
* * *
[Host has entered the optimum conditions for evolution. Do you wish to proceed?]
[Host has entered the optimum conditions for evolution. Do you wish to proceed?]
[Host has entered the optimum conditions for evolution. Do you wish to proceed?]
[Host has entered the optimum conditions for evolution. Do you wish to proceed?]
'…yes…'
[Evolution Process Invoked]
Han De's consciousness immediately became crystal clear. At the same time, he realized he didn't have access to any of his senses. The only thing he could detect was the System's prompts.
[Gathering statistics]
[Checking usable resources for evolution]
[1. Cultivation requirements not met]
[2. Body cultivation requirements not met]
[3. Soul cultivation requirements not met]
[4. Body constitution cannot be modified further]
[5. Soul erosion within tolerance levels]
[6. Bloodline incompatibilities exceed tolerance levels]
[7. Evolution will result in conflicting spiritual roots.]
[Warning: Privilege level 2 does not allow customization of the evolution process.]
[Warning: Body constitution will break down during the process.]
[Warning: Bloodline incompatibilities are over tolerance levels.]
'...'
Han De watched the messages scroll away with resignation. He had an extremely bad feeling after reading all those warnings.
[Initiating Automatic Evolution]
[Calculating optimum evolution path...]
[Considering options...]
[Suitable option found]
[Preparations are complete]
[To prevent permanent soul damage, the host will be put in sleep mode]
[Error: Evolution process does not support sleep mode]
[...]
[...]
[To prevent permanent soul damage, the host will be put in standby mode]
[...]
[Log only mode enabled]
[...]
[Evolution In Progress]
[Cultivation base dispersion complete]
[Primordial Void Dragon bloodline concentration increased by 0.01%]
[Suspending Primordial Void Dragon bloodline]
[...]
[Mutated Luminescent Body dismantled]
[Body cultivation insufficient and incompatible, removing spiritual energy from cells]
[Soul erosion complete, total damage is within tolerance levels]
[Life energy removal complete]
[Body reconstruction started]
[...]
[...]
[Meridian reconstruction complete]
[...]
[...]
[Soul removal complete]
[Soul reconstruction started]
[...]
[. ..]
.[ .].
]. .[ .
.[ ..]
[...]
[Partial soul reconstruction complete!]
[Body reconstruction complete!]
[Calculating rejection possibility]
[Possibility of rejection is at 0.005%]
[Soul injection starting]
[1%...5%....55%....99%....100%]
[Soul injection complete]
[Time Elapsed: 97:13:20]
[Integrating stored #=*_?:=?;-^=?&&-_!:=:!?>?
|This worthless servant greets your excellency!|
The voice that reverberated inside Han De's head sounded... highly respectful.
'S#$%… S#$%, S#$%, S#$%...'
Han De -who was still in lotus position-, looked around the dim cave. The communication jade was still silent. The excruciatingly painful headache that had suddenly appeared a few minutes ago, was the least of his worries now.
|This worthless servant apologizes for his incompetence. This worthless servant's body is too large. It cannot enter the immortal cave that your excellency has carved.|
This way of communication reminded Han De of the Cronenberg chef and the void grandpa. Similar, but also remarkably simpler. Nuance and intensity were completely lacking.
At the same time, a mass of spiritual energy and pressure appeared far above. There was no way to mistake this energy for something else. The memory of the netherdemons called leviathans was fresh in Han De's mind.
'OK, relax. I expected this. Relax. Be cool. Be cool. I've made plans for just these occasions…'
Indeed, Han De had many contingency plans for a variety of situations. Some of them were rather farfetched, but as he witnessed during the final moments aboard the jury-rigged celestial ship, his plans weren't farfetched enough. Clearly, it was Xianxia: 2, Han De: 0. An unacceptable result. But now wasn't the time to reconsider the past events.
Right now, he was fresh out of tribulation. He had fled and carved this single-room cave hundreds of meters underneath a riverbed. His body was failing. His memory was fading. His medicine wasn't working. His messages to his family weren't getting through. He was alone.
Not all was lost, but it was getting dangerously close. Now that there was an opportunity, Han De chose desperate measures and tried to squeeze out his last bit of courage. To speak, with a mildly displeased tone.
"A worm that can't shrink its body? Am I hearing that right?"
Silence ensued. Han De was confident in his "Close Encounter with the Nether Kind: Higher Being Edition" series of plans. The first step was to gauge the effect of his bloodline. He tried his best to ignore the suspicious headache and stared at the status screen.
[Aura of the Progenitor]
[Higher beings touched by the aura cannot be disrespectful.]
[Notes: Cannot be detected by lower beings.]
[Scent of the Progenitor]
[Beings evolved from spiritual animals will pay their respects when they detect the scent. Beings evolved from the netherworld will accept your rule when they detect the scent.]
[Notes: Effects will be extremely limited on lower beings.]
Highly respectful and deferential tone? Without ever seeing him? Must be the aura. Must be a higher being. And a netherworld being on top of that? Han De would be a fool not to use, no, -abuse-, his advantage.
The uncomfortable silence remained. Beads of sweat forming in Han De's forehead were completely unrelated to the situation. He wasn't nervous at all. Not one bit. It was probably the headache that was causing it. Probably.
'…'
Above, far above, the mass of spiritual energy fluctuated.
'F#$%… Don't Final Flash me, please…'
Han De was too preoccupied to notice a crucial point. How could a normal Core Formation detect spiritual energy fluctuations of this nature? Detecting the spiritual waves of a higher major realm should've been impossible.
Not only he was sensing the energy, but he could also somewhat understand its spatial relation.
Whatever was happening, it was happening somewhere extremely far away. Yet Han De could sense that the mass of energy was violently compressing itself at a frightening pace.
Of course, he wasn't even a Core Formation expert anymore. But he didn't notice that either.
What felt like an eternity later, the mass of spiritual energy disappeared and reappeared, right in front of Han De.
|This worthless servant greets your excellency.|
It was as if a sun had appeared right in front of him. Han De couldn't help but reflexively look away. In truth, there wasn't any light in the cave, it only felt like there was to his spiritual sense. He had no idea why his body interpreted spiritual energy as intense light, and unfortunately, it wasn't the time to ponder on such things.
Han De fixed his facial expressions and equipped the Profound Expert A persona. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the now miniature-sized leviathan.
The so-called leviathan had changed since the last time Han De saw them. Before they were like flying sandworms straight out of Arrakis, now it was a strange mixture of a stone snake and tattered whale flippers. The dirty grey scales that covered it from head to tail lacked any luster, making it look like a flying statue, rather than a living being. The leviathan's appearance satisfied the definition of the word ancient. Only a few meters long at most, but still ancient!
"Quite the bold greeting…"
The open-ended statement was only for Han De to get his bearings. Easily misinterpretable statements were the bread and butter of the Profound Expert series.
The leviathan lowered its head until its tiny chin touched the ground.
'F#$%… is it… vibrating? Don't… Don't do that…'
Han De would've missed it if he didn't have the eyes of a cultivator.
And why would a leviathan vibrate ever so slightly? A solitary monster that bathed in the miasma of the netherworld for millions of years. A freak species even among the nether-kind, known for their relentless hunger, now uncontrollably shaking?
Unfortunately, not even the leviathan itself knew what was happening. Its bloodline was screaming for it to run! Nothing else mattered!
Even more unfortunately, it was incapable of doing so. Though leviathans had a different cultivation path, they still possessed enough intuition to judge the events without knowing the full picture. It was through that level of intuition, the leviathan was able to tell that its existence was standing on a thin line.
Not that the concept of death would bother a leviathan, nor would they be worried about being outside the cycle of reincarnation. However, both were far more preferable to non-existence.
"Hmph. I suppose you'll do…"
Uncontrollable joy swept away the terror. The joy of being acknowledged by a being linked to its creation was simply unimaginable!
At the same time, the leviathan was inwardly shocked. Was this being, really linked to its creation? When did that happen? Soon that did not matter. Numerous ancient bloodlines that it possessed seemed to have come to a consensus. Or maybe they felt threatened by that single drop of blood essence it received inside the tribulation realm.
Meanwhile, Han De became 90% sure that this leviathan wouldn't do anything to hurt him. Maybe. He was at least 80% sure. Probably.
He was at least confident enough to ask a few questions…
He sighed wearily with a 'could've been worse…' expression all over his face. This was the most basic technique of doublespeak that Han De had developed to talk with higher cultivation experts. All those emotions were genuine, the only difference was the reason.
'Yeah, this could work. Interacting with the netherworld creatures should be taboo, but F#$% that! My life is more important.'
As Han De's confidence increased, so did the leviathan's. However, there was something else that also increased. What started as a minor headache had officially turned into teeth clenching pain. If it wasn't for his constant image training, Han De would've started howling by now.
"This body, and its senses are… limited. What is its current condition? Be concise."
|This worthless servant dares no to presume, your excellenc-|
"Be. Concise."
|Thi-|
Han De narrowed his eyes. The leviathan dared not to delay and quickly spoke.
|… The body is in the critical stage of metamorphosis...|
"… I'm in what now?"
Han De wasn't sure if he heard it right. Surely this flying statue of a snake didn't actually say metamorphosis. Suddenly, Han De's mind was jolted awake. He had forgotten about healing his body, over and over again.
Despite the fact that he was treating the leviathan's words with suspicion, Han De still believed it. At an intellectual level, he knew not to trust a random expert, let alone a netherworld higher being. Bloodline or not, this was Xianxia 101 after all. Unfortunately, the reality wasn't so black and white.
Though Han De himself wasn't aware of this, deep inside he knew that this insignificant worm in front of him wouldn't dare to speak lies in his presence.
"Continue…"
|Your majesty's body is in a state of metamorphosis brought by the… strange condition of the body and soul. The meridians are in the Nascent Soul realm, but...|
Human cultivation was a mystery for the leviathan. It only knew about the terms. Connecting the dots and correctly deducing the condition took a few seconds.
|...The soul is half in the Spirit Origin realm, and yet the connection between the body and the soul is reminiscent of the Unity Realm. The pathways opened up by the constitution looks to be nearing the Immortal Realm stage.|
Han De felt his thoughts starting to become foggy. Even listening to the leviathan required tremendous effort. A dull panic set in after realizing he had felt like this once before.
| ...annot interfere with the process, but if your majesty wishes to switch over to another body, there ar-|
'No. I'm not going to switch to another body…
…
Unless it is the last option...'
The leviathan couldn't hear Han De's thoughts, but his deep rejection was as clear as day. At the same time, it recognized the signs of the deep meditative state.
The last thing Han De remembered was replying 'yes' to the system's prompt.
Now that the consciousness of the being had entered a deep slumber, the leviathan could think a lot more clearly.
Though it was unsure why this unimaginable being had possessed the body of this unlucky human, and how much power can be safely driven through that broken human body, the leviathan didn't care. Usually, extraordinary beings had the tendency to overpower anything and everything on their path. Temporary weakness was meaningless because it was temporary to begin with.
Hence, the leviathan stayed. It wasn't prudence that stopped it from fleeing. The thought of staying and serving while the being was weak to reap the benefits later didn't even occur to the leviathan. It simply couldn't leave because it had already swallowed the single drop of blood essence during the tribulation.
In reality, that tribulation wasn't a tribulation at all. No heavenly lightning had struck, no heavenly pressure had come down. Quite peculiar, but not an unexcepted turn of events in hindsight.
* * *
[Host has entered the optimum conditions for evolution. Do you wish to proceed?]
[Host has entered the optimum conditions for evolution. Do you wish to proceed?]
[Host has entered the optimum conditions for evolution. Do you wish to proceed?]
[Host has entered the optimum conditions for evolution. Do you wish to proceed?]
'…yes…'
[Evolution Process Invoked]
Han De's consciousness immediately became crystal clear. At the same time, he realized he didn't have access to any of his senses. The only thing he could detect was the System's prompts.
[Gathering statistics]
[Checking usable resources for evolution]
[1. Cultivation requirements not met]
[2. Body cultivation requirements not met]
[3. Soul cultivation requirements not met]
[4. Body constitution cannot be modified further]
[5. Soul erosion within tolerance levels]
[6. Bloodline incompatibilities exceed tolerance levels]
[7. Evolution will result in conflicting spiritual roots.]
[Warning: Privilege level 2 does not allow customization of the evolution process.]
[Warning: Body constitution will break down during the process.]
[Warning: Bloodline incompatibilities are over tolerance levels.]
'...'
Han De watched the messages scroll away with resignation. He had an extremely bad feeling after reading all those warnings.
[Initiating Automatic Evolution]
[Calculating optimum evolution path...]
[Considering options...]
[Suitable option found]
[Preparations are complete]
[To prevent permanent soul damage, the host will be put in sleep mode]
[Error: Evolution process does not support sleep mode]
[...]
[...]
[To prevent permanent soul damage, the host will be put in standby mode]
[...]
[Log only mode enabled]
[...]
[Evolution In Progress]
[Cultivation base dispersion complete]
[Primordial Void Dragon bloodline concentration increased by 0.01%]
[Suspending Primordial Void Dragon bloodline]
[...]
[Mutated Luminescent Body dismantled]
[Body cultivation insufficient and incompatible, removing spiritual energy from cells]
[Soul erosion complete, total damage is within tolerance levels]
[Life energy removal complete]
[Body reconstruction started]
[...]
[...]
[Meridian reconstruction complete]
[...]
[...]
[Soul removal complete]
[Soul reconstruction started]
[...]
[. ..]
.[ .].
]. .[ .
.[ ..]
[...]
[Partial soul reconstruction complete!]
[Body reconstruction complete!]
[Calculating rejection possibility]
[Possibility of rejection is at 0.005%]
[Soul injection starting]
[1%...5%....55%....99%....100%]
[Soul injection complete]
[Time Elapsed: 97:13:20]
[Integrating stored #=*_?:=?;-^=?&&-_!:=:!?>?
