Free Web NovelChapter 271: Chapter 258: Life Form, Part 2
Soon, the Eagle People grew restless, letting out a wave of cheers.
They began to gather in an organized fashion and retreat into the island’s interior.
The few monsters that tried to give chase were swiftly intercepted by Ouyang Yining and the Black Army.
Ouyang Yining was a Blood Ancestor, after all. Though his strength was nothing compared to Lin Hui’s, against anyone else, it was a completely different dimension of power.
Once most of the Eagle People had evacuated,
Lin Hui finally grasped Ruyi, drew it slowly, and was about to strike.
Just then, from within the thick, misty clouds above Eagle Person Island, a gigantic bird head the size of a Ferris wheel suddenly burst forth.
The bird’s head had dark red feathers, and its eyes looked like burning rubies. It opened its beak toward the island and let out a massive, piercing, terrifying screech.
"This is bad! It’s a Giant Phoenix!" Ouyang Yining’s face paled the moment he looked up and saw the colossal bird.
"A Giant Phoenix!?" Lin Hui had also been cramming information on the common monsters around Black Cloud City recently.
He had a deep impression of these powerful monsters that could survive the sweeping purges of the Fog People and the Fog Spirit.
The Giant Phoenix was one of them.
This enormous, phoenix-like bird monster was wreathed in eternal flames and possessed terrifyingly potent life force, comparable to an ordinary Fog Person. No matter what kind of power was used against it, nothing could deal a fatal blow.
Once, a Fog Person managed to wear it down and kill it, but the Giant Phoenix instantly revived from its Ashes. After this happened dozens of times in a row, no one tried such a foolish thing again.
Because it could regenerate from Ashes, many people called this monster the Giant Phoenix.
Meaning, a giant Phoenix.
In reality, however, this monster ate people and had a particular taste for preying on more powerful Summoners of the Human Race.
Now, seeing the Giant Phoenix—a monster comparable to a top-tier Blood Ancestor—appear, the Eagle People all fell into despair.
Just then,
Lin Hui flew out, holding Ruyi horizontally.
"Do not be afraid. As long as I am here, I will not allow it to harm any of you."
His voice was like a clap of thunder, reverberating into the ears of the Eagle People gathered below.
And surprisingly, he had spoken in the Eagle People’s own language...
Seeing that his objective was achieved, Lin Hui nodded to himself. ’It wasn’t a waste of effort to specifically find this Giant Phoenix and drive it here to play a supporting role.’
The Giant Phoenix, which had been driven here by him and was nursing a long-held grudge, was about to vent its fury on the island. But it looked down, saw the culprit right under its nose, and was instantly overcome with rage. It changed its target and pecked at Lin Hui.
BANG!
Ruyi collided head-on with the giant beak.
Enveloped by the Wind of Surrounding, Ruyi was like a colossal blue-black sword, firmly holding back the tens-of-meters-long red beak.
In the next second, Lin Hui’s figure flashed. He shot sideways and upward, streaking past the Giant Phoenix’s side.
SHING!
A flash of sword light, and a massive, bloody gash instantly appeared on the left side of the Giant Phoenix’s face.
ROAR!!!
It howled in agony, letting out a wretched cry as it retreated into the clouds.
In the next instant, a void appeared. The Giant Phoenix’s body shrank rapidly, coalescing into a streak of red light that vanished into the void.
Then the void faded and disappeared, and everything returned to calm.
The Giant Phoenix could open voids at will, which was one of the reasons it could constantly escape from the Fog Spirit and the Fog People.
Lin Hui was panting slightly. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked toward the assembled Eagle People, a faint smile on his face.
"Alright, the greatest danger has been dealt with. You should be able to handle the cleanup and settle things on your own from here. I’ll take a look around the area and eliminate any threats that might damage the formation again."
"On behalf of Eagle Person Island, I thank Vice City Lord Lin for his support!"
From among the Eagle People, a tall male with white feathers rose into the air, cupped his fist, and bowed to Lin Hui from a distance.
"You’re too kind. I have long admired City Lord Ying Sanqiong. It is my honor to be able to do something for Eagle Person Island," Lin Hui said gently.
"Vice City Lord Lin, you are too humble. My Eagle Person Island will remember this favor!" the White Feathered Eagle Person said solemnly.
Lin Hui sighed, gave a slight fist-cup salute, and turned to fly back to the Moth Car.
Halfway back, a terrifying Pulse of Life, hundreds of times larger than any before, surged violently into his body.
His body stiffened for a moment, but he quickly steadied himself and returned to the Moth Car as if nothing had happened.
In his mind, the Star Breath Sword Manual had a wondrous method for counting the Pulse of Life.
It was a vague, special sense that existed deep within his mind.
Every time a new type of Pulse of Life was added, a number would spontaneously appear in his mind.
It was as if an empty plate had been divided into many, many squares. Each time a square was filled, it would spontaneously send a sensation to Lin Hui.
At this moment, Lin Hui instantly sensed that more than ten types of Pulse of Life had filled the squares on the plate all at once.
The largest of them was the vague silhouette of the Eagle People. The rest were various other species; some were the outlines of strange, large trees, while others were different humanoid races.
The ninety-nine required types for the Pulse of Life had, in that instant, reached a progress of ninety-seven.
’Just three more to go...’
Before Lin Hui could even figure out where to find the last three,
three more potent Pulses of Life suddenly shot out from the sea and swiftly entered his body.
The silhouettes that appeared from these three Pulses of Life were, in fact, three types of fog monsters.
The Human-Faced Shark, the Crowned Octopus, and the Rotten Whale-Man.
In an instant, the collection requirement for the Pulse of Life was fully completed.
Dense, immense, and warm streams now nourished Lin Hui’s entire body, making him so comfortable he almost trembled.
"My lord? My lord!?" Ouyang Yining’s voice came from his side.
Lin Hui turned and realized he was still standing inside the Moth Car. Only a dozen or so seconds had passed.
"Let’s go. We’ll circle the area once, then head back!" he ordered swiftly.
"Yes, sir!"
And so, under Lin Hui’s lead, the Black Army hastily circled Eagle Person Island once before quickly returning to Black Cloud City.
After turning in the mission at the Moon Tower, Ouyang Yining was left in charge of the follow-up, while Lin Hui eagerly returned to Qingfeng Daoist Academy to enter seclusion.
With the Pulse of Life fully absorbed, he now had to begin condensing the first level of the Star Breath Sword Manual: the Life Form.
The first level of the Star Breath Sword Manual, also known as Yuan Yi, was the most fundamental level.
Lin Hui sat cross-legged in his seclusion chamber, carefully sensing the Pulse of Life surging like a river inside him.
The cultivation memories related to the Star Breath Sword Manual surfaced in his mind once again.
With practiced ease, his hands moved like a blooming lotus, rapidly forming seals in front of him.
At the same time, his Heart and Spirit condensed three-dimensional seal-runes one by one in the air before his brow.
The dense seal-runes took shape at high speed, transforming into blue-black symbols that flew into the gaps of the web-like mesh on the surface of his body, soon filling it in to form a blue-black robe.
As Lin Hui sat at the center, his long hair seemed to sense some kind of threat. It began to glow with a blue fluorescence, floating and dancing behind him.
His hair quickly connected to an unknown place, and a continuous stream of Disaster Energy accelerated into Lin Hui’s body, attempting to suppress the Star Breath Sword Manual’s Pulse of Life.
However, as the Pulse of Life began to condense according to the Star Breath Sword Manual, Lin Hui finally felt another powerful type of wind, distinct from the Wind Calamity.
It was the breath of the planet, an infinite wind that could nurture life.
It was vast and immense, blowing dispassionately across every inch of the planet’s surface.
At this moment, Lin Hui could clearly feel the huge difference between the two winds.
One wind was tyrannical and rampaged wantonly, destroying and decomposing everything.
The other nurtured all things in its breeze, gently caressing everything.
Gradually, as his understanding and perception of the wind deepened, the condensation of the Star Breath Sword Manual grew faster and faster.
As time passed, a blurry, blue-black humanoid figure appeared one meter behind Lin Hui. It had no facial features, no face at all, and its body was even translucent, emitting a faint blue light.
The humanoid figure also held a sword, wore a long robe, and had waist-length hair, looking like an afterimage of him.
But Lin Hui knew it was no afterimage, because he could split his focus and control the humanoid figure behind him.
The humanoid was as light as a feather, yet it possessed all of his strength, speed, and Disaster Energy. The result was that its speed far surpassed his own.
Because it had almost no weight, its speed reached a terrifying level.
’So this is the Holy Form of Life?’ Lin Hui stood up, turned around, and faced the humanoid figure.
Hiss.
He slowly drew his sword and pointed it at the figure.
The humanoid figure also drew its sword and pointed it gently at him.
The dual swords crossed, and they actually made the faint sound of scraping metal.
It was as if the other’s sword was also a real Ruyi.
Lin Hui carefully sensed the various subtleties of the Life Form while also summoning the Blood Seal to check his current status.
He placed great importance on the Blood Seal’s assessments.
Even though the Blood Seal was still evolving, whenever one of his existing Martial Arts broke through to a new level, the corresponding information on it would still be updated.
From these updates, he could also obtain a great deal of crucial, directional intelligence.
The next moment, the Blood Seal appeared at the bottom of his vision, and the status of his Star Breath Sword Manual was clear at a glance.
’Star Breath Sword Manual—Current Status: First Level, Yuan Yi. The Holy Form of Life has been condensed. (The Holy Form of Life is not a clone and cannot act independently. Once condensed, it can channel the planet’s breath, command the atmosphere for personal use, and control all gaseous matter within a fixed range that is below your Energy Level. In practice, all of your offensive and defensive actions will produce a double strike when using the Star Breath Sword Manual. This strike can inherit all Secret Techniques and Special Effects used by the main body.)’
"..." Although the infused memories contained similar explanations, Lin Hui was still a bit stunned to see this new information from the Blood Seal.
He already knew the other information from his memories, but that last sentence—"can inherit all Secret Techniques and Special Effects used by the main body"—was new.
Apparently, this was a hidden ability of the Star Breath Sword Manual.
The sentence seemed fine on the surface, but in a real battle, what if he used Typhoon Swordsmanship and the Life Form used it too?
What if he used Nine Eyes, and the Life Form also used Nine Eyes?
This meant that any Secret Technique he cultivated in the future would have double the effect!
’The Star Breath Sword Manual is truly worthy of its name... It really hasn’t disappointed me!’
With a thought from Lin Hui, the Life Form spontaneously dispersed and vanished.
The condensation of the Life Form meant his strength would soon enter another explosive growth phase.
Channeling the power of the Star Breath Sword Manual wasn’t just about having the Life Form. What was important was that the Life Form could channel the power of the planet’s breath to further temper his Heart and Spirit and his physical body.
Making him even stronger.
And this process of transformation would take time.
