BXBX NOVEL Chapter 118 - Searching: Part 1
An ear-piercing sound of metal twisting broke out along with heavy pounding and a ring of gray mist.
Lin Sheng gripped the broken sword, face hideous. As sacred power circulated in his body, the strength in his muscle was converted into primordial energy before being channeled to the sword. The broken sword began to crack before shattering into hundreds of pieces.
In his last-ditch effort, the fat dude caught Lin Sheng’s sword barehanded, ignoring the pain of and the blood gushing out from his wound. But the more strength he used, the worse the bleeding became. Unable to hold on any longer, he roared with his last bit of strength before dropping dead on the ground.
At the same time, Lin Sheng had also exhausted what remained of his strength. As blood gushing out from the wound in the fat dude’s waist, a gray mist started to rise from the black liquid as the blood was boiling. Lin Sheng tumbled several steps backward and leaned against the wall on his back. He summoned his sacred power to heal his injured knees and muscles. What was left of his sword was only the hilt and a massive crack in the wooden shield. “It’s completely ruined. What a shame!” This wooden shield was stronger than any metal, and the surface area was large enough to be useful and practical. But it was now kaput for good.
He discarded the broken shield and the hilt and ripped the dented chest armor apart. He reached his hand to his breast; there, he could feel four broken ribs inside his chest. He coughed a few times, spitting out saliva that was mixed with blood. He then slowly walked up to the dead bodies of the fat dude, from which black smoke rose and formed a massive streak of blackline. “Hope there is something more useful this time.” Lin Sheng took a deep breath, looking at the smoky substance of the memories expectantly. He knew the value of the fat dude’s memories would surpass any of the previous monsters. As the blackline disappeared into Lin Sheng’s chest, he felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck him. His mind went blank as if a million-volt of electric current was surging through his body with every cell of his body numb and screaming in pain.
“The Circle of Reaping... what blood would you like?” A hoary-sounding voice spoke into his ear. The language was indescribably beautiful, sounding like a singing chorus.
“I am the strongest, so I want the most powerful!” A youthful voice of a man answered softly.
“The more powerful it is, the riskier it gets. Could your soul withstand the backlash?” asked the elder.
“Never try, never know. Master Igor has given me hope, and I will not let him down!” The man’s voice was filled with great ambition.
“Are you sure? Each person could only be infused with the Circle of Reaping once. One thing you should know; the purpose of Master Igor developing this technique was to fight against death and decay, not for the sake of outright power.”
“Is there anyone more qualified to receive the bloodline of the Rock Dragon than me?” The male laughed raucously. The elder said no more. Then, the voices slowly dissipated.
Lin Sheng shook his head as he woke up from his dream. He did not like the feeling of lassitude, but it was a necessary part of memories ingestion. “Is this the memory of the fire-spitting fat dude acquiring the Circle of Reaping? Each person could only use the Circle of Reaping once? If Igor was not after combat strength, then could it be for longevity?” Lin Sheng asked as he examined the voluminous memories.
As he had expected, the fat dude had used the Circle of Reaping to infuse himself with the blood of a half-dragon beast called the Rock Dragon, from which he had achieved an incredible boost to his strength and the flame-spitting ability. Unfortunately, all these enhancements came with a caveat; the blood of the Rock Dragon would pollute his soul, and he would turn to be uncontrollably tyrannous. Since then, the fat dude’s memories became disorganized, his mind swung continuously between lucidity and utter vagueness.
“Did the thing backfire?” Lin Sheng shook his head. After the sacred power had healed him somewhat, he began to search the dead bodies hoping to find something useful. Sadly, all the fat dude left behind was only a pair of arm armor and glove, even the sizes of which were too large for Lin Sheng to wear. He had no choice but to give up, leaving the body behind him as he continued to thread forward.
The gray mist was becoming thicker, and it finally turned so dense that Lin Sheng could not see his own fingers before his eyes. He had to be extra vigilant. From the memories, he knew that the last place where the fat dude was guarding was the very last batch of Circle of Reaping in the vault.
This circle was unique in that before its usage, it could temporarily latch on the soul of a human in the form of pure energy, the pattern of death and decay. Upon selecting a target, the user needed to chant the initiator, and the circle would quickly spring to live, melting and devouring the primordial blood of its target. Then, the user would only need to swallow the crystal to acquire the blood. The key to all this was that the Circle of Reaping would only respond to the blood of supernatural quality. Igor had added some sensor mechanism in the circle to ease its usage. The circle would only come to life when it sensed the presence of supernatural blood. Lin Sheng sorted this information in his mind as he continued to move forward.
“If the fat dude’s memories are anything to go by, there should be no more guards up ahead. But still, better be safe than sorry.” A dozen minutes of walking down the tunnel, the gray mist had turned thinner. Lin Sheng glanced around and saw skeletons in the prison cells on both sides. In the cell on the left was the skeleton of a wolf with wings. In the cell on the right was the skull of a mountain goat the size of a palm. However, what really caught Lin Sheng’s attention was the tiny holes on the foreside of the skull.
Lin Sheng was vigilant as he slowed down his steps to make as little sound as possible. As he walked down the tunnel, he saw more skeletons in the prison cells. In certain cells, there were multiple skeletons inside. One of the cells had a colossal white bone lying on the floor. A few more minutes down the tunnel, Lin Sheng finally saw a large black metal door at the end of the tunnel. At eight meters tall and five meters wide, the door was not designed for a human like Lin Sheng, apparently. It was open ajar with gray mist drifting out from the inside.
Lin Sheng paused. He then slowly came up and pushed the door with his leg. As the door slowly creaked open, he eased through the gap. From what he learned from the memories, this was the lab where the fat dude stored the Circle of Reaping and a square pit undulating with green fluorescent liquid.