Chapter 118: Chapter 79: Crystal Core Mutation (Part 2)
"Do you have anything brighter?" Zhang Chen looked at the Fox Fairy Nannan who was holding a Luminous Pearl like a light bulb.
"I have some torches." Fox Fairy Nannan replied.
"Hurry and bring them!"
Zhang Chen urged quickly.
How could the brightness of a Luminous Pearl compare to that of a torch?
There’s simply no comparison!
Fox Fairy Nannan glared at Zhang Chen unwillingly, handed him the Luminous Pearl, and then turned into a wisp of blue smoke and disappeared from the stone chamber.
After the Fox Spirit left, Zhang Chen didn’t move recklessly but stood in front of the wall studying the changes in the lines. He didn’t have to wait long before he saw Fox Fairy Nannan coming back with seven or eight torches, holding a firestone in her hand, arriving in front of Zhang Chen:
"These torches are specially made by our Qingqiu Race, one can light up an entire day and night." Fox Fairy Nannan said.
Zhang Chen took the torches and then signaled for Fox Fairy Nannan to light them with the firestone. The next moment, it was as if a small sun had risen in the stone chamber, as bright as a 120-watt light bulb, making the entire chamber as bright as daylight.
"What are these torches made of?" Zhang Chen asked curiously.
"I don’t know." Fox Fairy Nannan replied irritably, "I’m not an encyclopedia."
Zhang Chen ignored the Fox Spirit’s impatience and lifted a torch to look at the stone wall. It was then he clearly saw the patterns on the entire stone wall and was stunned: "Is that... a fox with nine tails?"
"That’s right! That is the ancestor of my Fox Race, a twelfth-tier deity!" The Fox Spirit said proudly, "My race has the unique talent of the Substitute Death Technique. As long as the bloodline reverts and grows a tail, it can continually evade death. Unfortunately, I wasted a tail when I faced a formidable enemy some years ago, and then during possession, unexpected events made me waste another tail. Otherwise, how could I have been outsmarted by you?"
The voice of Fox Fairy Nannan was somewhat mournful. She, the dignified Nannan Ancestor, a seventh-tier existence, had actually failed against a simpleton. Such resentment could not be expressed in a few words.
It’s utterly absurd!
It’s like being a Golden Core Realm expert and getting chopped to death by a mortal. Isn’t that frustrating?
Fox Fairy Nannan felt suffocated to death from frustration!
If she were dead, it might have ended everything, but now something unexpected happened; she couldn’t die!
Zhang Chen ignored the Fox Spirit and focused his eyes on the carvings. After observing for a long time, he still felt no sensation.
However, there were four large characters above those engravings, appearing violent and murderous, but he couldn’t recognize them.
"I need to learn to read soon. Otherwise, I might miss opportunities in the future because I can’t understand words." Zhang Chen thought to himself.
"What do those four characters say?" Zhang Chen asked.
"Celestial Fox Devouring the Moon." The Fox Spirit said.
"Celestial Fox Devouring the Moon?" Zhang Chen looked at the pattern. Indeed, it was a fox with nine tails, stretching its long neck with a ball in its mouth.
The most crucial part was that inside the ball, there were thousands of strange symbols the size of rice grains, looking very mysterious.
"What are those symbols?" Zhang Chen asked.
Hearing this, the Fox Spirit hesitated: "Those are the life-texts of my Fox Race, describing the true essence of the moon. By visualizing those symbols, one can draw the essence of the moon. You must not attempt it; without the Fox Race’s bloodline, chaos will surely arise."
Zhang Chen didn’t offer a response, merely continued to watch for a while. Fortunately, his eyesight had improved after his bloodline transformation, so even if the symbols were the size of rice grains, he could see them clearly.
But as Zhang Chen observed, the Crystal Core within his heart suddenly trembled lightly, and the flow speed of his Qi Blood within his body gradually accelerated, so much so that his heartbeat was like a war drum, echoing crisply in the silent stone chamber.
"I’m telling you, stop looking, or there might be big trouble brewing. Don’t go berserk with me involved." The Fox Spirit was anxious upon hearing Zhang Chen’s rapid heartbeat, urging him hastily.
Unfortunately, without Zhang Chen’s command, she was unable to move, unable to shake Zhang Chen awake; she could only shout at him.
At this time, Zhang Chen’s eyes turned scarlet, staring fiercely at the symbols on the wall, as if possessed, his gaze glued to the thousands of tiny sigils, and as Zhang Chen’s heartbeat quickened, veins popped on his forehead, his skin turning redder, looking just like a boiled shrimp.
"It’s over!" Fox Fairy Nannan, seeing Zhang Chen’s strange condition, couldn’t help but feel sorrow: "My fate is bitter! If this boy dies, I have to die with him! If he’s paralyzed all over, won’t I have to take care of him his whole life? If he goes insane, don’t I have to accompany him in madness? Where would the dignity of me, Nannan Ancestor, be then?"
Thinking of such a tragic future, Fox Fairy Nannan felt sadness well up inside: It’s painful! She wanted to cry!
"Wake up! Don’t fall into it! You’re from the Human Race, don’t get trapped! Have mercy and take pity on your Fox Immortal Ancestor! What sin did I commit! Just because I ate a bit of your rice, do I deserve a life of servitude?" Fox Fairy Nannan looked at Zhang Chen, muttering curses.
But Zhang Chen couldn’t hear the Fox Spirit’s words. His attention was glued to the symbols, and as his view made contact with the sigils, his Qi Blood began to run amok. The Crystal Core in his blood turned into a vortex, devouring his blood, repeatedly using the Qi Blood to simulate sigils, only for the simulated sigils to shatter in the Crystal Core, returning to Qi Blood, then simulated again, and shattered.
This cycle continued endlessly, and Zhang Chen’s face grew paler, his previously flushed face turning bloodless, as he wobbled unsteadily in front of the stone wall, as if about to collapse at any moment.
Zhang Chen stood there like that for three days; his skin turned ghostly pale, devoid of any color, and his heart seemed to have stopped beating, for the Fox Spirit could no longer hear any heartbeat.
By now, his body was drained entirely of blood, only the Crystal Core remained in his shriveled and hollow heart, its silvery light flickering, seemingly undergoing some mysterious transformation.
At that moment, a few remarkable symbols manifested on the Crystal Core. These symbols were few, only a mere one hundred and twenty, much simpler compared to the thousands on the wall. The one hundred and twenty silver symbols combined, forming a unique rhythm engraved within Zhang Chen’s Crystal Core.
Despite the Crystal Core’s tiny size — already as small as a grain of rice — the one hundred and twenty symbols were even smaller, engraved into its microcosmic world, occupying less than one ten-thousandth.
Then, as the symbols were etched, the Crystal Core began to glow a silvery white.
That’s right, Zhang Chen’s Crystal Core transformed from a transparent, crystal-like state to a silvery white.
The Crystal Core then trembled slightly, and droplets of blood flowed rapidly from it, restoring Zhang Chen’s heartbeat, reviving his being.
"Whew~"
A long breath broke the heavy atmosphere in the stone chamber, even making the grumbling Fox Spirit pause, her eyes filled with hope as she looked at Zhang Chen, hoping he was neither insane nor disabled so that she wouldn’t have to become his lifelong servant.
Fortunately, Zhang Chen indeed remained sane, unharmed, though his gaze towards the wall painting seemed a bit off.
"Are you okay?" The Fox Spirit approached anxiously, her voice tinged with concern.
"I’m fine!" Zhang Chen shook his head.
Zhang Chen answered, then turned to the Fox Spirit with a look of confusion: "Are you sure observing this pattern can strengthen the soul?"
This mural and the symbols were truly peculiar, touching upon another kind of Mysterious Power.
He seemed to have gained the ability to transform into a Vampire Bat!