"Transform into thirty-six bats at once, as long as one survives, I will not perish!" Zhang Chen transformed into a bat, soaring above the vast sky. Within thirty-odd breaths, he had already reached above the blue sky and white clouds, overlooking the entire Daoist Temple and the endless mountains and rivers. A thought rose in Zhang Chen’s mind: Should he just run away?
On second thought, he dismissed the idea. Zhang Chen was someone who wanted to cultivate immortality, and the Daoist Temple still had many things worth his lust, such as: Martial Dao. Such as: Huangting Scripture. Such as: the place where the Huangting Scripture was discovered.
Zhang Chen transformed into a Vampire Bat, now wandering under the moonlight, discovering that Vampire Bats not only had echolocation, but their vision was also exceptionally good.
The moonlight was like flowing water, yet the wings of the bat flickered with silver-white symbols. Those symbols were mysterious and unfathomable, absorbing the moonlight from between Heaven and Earth, nourishing Zhang Chen’s Crystal Core.
Zhang Chen soared through the sky, feeling as if he suddenly had thirty-six pairs of eyes. How to describe that feeling? There was no sense of discomfort, just as a person sees with one eye and with two eyes, it only felt more comprehensive, without that sense of visual chaos.
The thirty-six Vampire Bats dispersed in the air, continuously widening the distance. Countless mountains flew past beneath them, echolocation probing outward, and the landscapes and geomorphology came into his view clearly, considered as a retreat route for himself in the future.
Then the Vampire Bat transformed from Zhang Chen returned and was flying towards the Daoist Temple. However, suddenly an inexplicable force fluctuated above the temple, causing him to become dizzy and blurred. It seemed to be hit by some unknown force, and the bat’s body directly fell towards the inside of the temple.
"What the heck!" Zhang Chen was shocked. If he fell from the high sky, even if he transformed into a bat with wings, he feared he would be smashed into pulp.
Fortunately, Zhang Chen was not an ordinary person. At the critical moment, the Crystal Core in his body glowed, forcibly stabilizing his Qi Blood, then quickly slid down to the bed, thirty-six Vampire Bats transformed back into Zhang Chen’s appearance.
Lying on the bed, Zhang Chen suddenly opened his eyes, pushing Chengyu, who was entangled with him, off, then pushed the door open and walked out of the room, his eyes flashing with Golden Light, as the Dharma Eye opened at this moment.
When he transformed into a Vampire Bat, he was a bat mastering the Blood Control Ability, and Light of the True God other skills within disappeared inexplicably, as if they did not exist. Only when he transformed back into human form would his other abilities return.
Zhang Chen opened his Dharma Eye to see what was peculiar about Huangli Temple, which had almost caused his Vampire Bat to crash.
As Zhang Chen’s Dharma Eye opened, he suddenly saw thirty-something streaks of Golden Light soaring into the sky, a heavy fragrance of incense swirling around his nostrils. The fragrance did not act on the flesh, but directly transmitted to his soul.
Those thirty-something streaks of Golden Light varied in thickness, the thick ones like water jugs, the thin ones like strands of hair.
"Incense Qi! Exactly the same as the Incense Qi on Elder Wu? But the aura is much weaker than Elder Wu’s. Could this be the mystery of the Yellow Heaven Dao worship?"
"Is it a deity? Or merely the simple gathering of incense?" Zhang Chen’s eyes showed a trace of horror.
Then, before his eyes, those dozens of Incense Qi soared into the sky, seemingly passing through voids entering some mysterious place, until the last streak of divine light completely disappeared, and then everything returned to normal.
"If those dozens of beams are the Power of Incense, was there just a mysterious existence absorbing incense? Truly strange, this Yellow Heaven Dao." Zhang Chen contemplated silently under the moonlight.
The aura of those dozen beams was very similar to his own Light of the True God, but there was a fundamental difference. Although both were magnificently righteous, one seemed to be innately born, while the other seemed to be acquired and pieced together, completely incomparable.
"Incense Qi, Divine Power." Zhang Chen sensed the Light of the True God within his body, a thought flashing in his mind: "Could it be that my Light of the True God is Divine Power? Innate Divine Power?"
Zhang Chen closed the Dharma Eye, then stood in the courtyard, suddenly feeling a prickly itch on his skin. With a pinch, another large piece of human skin was torn off.
He was shedding skin again!
Seeing this, Zhang Chen hurried into the house, carefully watching Xiaodouding on the bed, and then slowly tearing the human skin off his body. It felt like tearing off a layer of shackles.
But looking at the torn-off human skin, Zhang Chen was troubled. How should he deal with this human skin? He didn’t dare to leave it behind. If someone got hold of it with some peculiar Technique they could use fallen hair and other items to curse and harm him, that would really harm himself.
"Anyway, I’m very hungry, haven’t had a meal for seven or eight days, let’s eat big bones today." Zhang Chen summoned Fox Spirit, signaling Fox Spirit to be silent. Fox Spirit understood Zhang Chen’s meaning, and the next moment its figure vanished into the night.
It didn’t make Zhang Chen wait long before Fox Spirit returned with a basin of meat, this time filled with ribs.
Looking at those ribs, Zhang Chen’s stomach rumbled like thunder, and then he first applied a light shield made of water vapor to cover the stove in the house.
He wanted to burn the human skin, which would definitely produce strange odors, so he first covered it with the water shield to restrain it, then mixed it with the aroma of stewed meat, surely fooling Xiaodouding.
Then Zhang Chen used Divine Techniques to draw clean water to wash the meat, igniting the stove fire, and started burning the human skin and stewing the meat.
Looking at Xiaodouding on the bed, who hadn’t slept well these seven days, Xiaodouding was sleeping soundly today like a little pig, even emitting light snores from her mouth.
Zhang Chen shook his head, with a good impression of the girl, this girl besides eating a little more, seemed to have no other faults.
Seeing the skin burnt and the fragrance of the stew wafting from the pot, Zhang Chen withdrew the water shield, letting the stew’s aroma fill the room.
"Smack~ Smack~"
On the bed, Xiaodouding began smacking her lips, the sound of drooling strikingly obvious in the quiet room.
Suddenly, at some point, Xiaodouding awoke, instinctively reaching towards the side of the bed, finding nothing, she turned around, sat up startled, and quickly shouted: "Junior Brother!"
"Why are you shouting? I’m right here." Zhang Chen, sitting in front of the stove, said grumpily.
"Are you stewing meat? You’ve recovered?" Xiaodouding climbed down from the bed barefoot, rushed to Zhang Chen’s side, touching Zhang Chen’s skin, which had returned to normal temperature, and looking at the boiling ribs, her eyes immediately lit up.
It was obvious Xiaodouding was very happy, not ordinarily happy!
Zhang Chen had recovered, and she had ribs to eat again, were there any better things in the world?
"Thanks to you these past few days." Zhang Chen looked at Xiaodouding, pulling her to sit on his lap, holding her in his arms, looking at the large blisters formed on the small, tender hands, his gaze showing a slight touch of emotion.
Xiaodouding clenched her palms, not letting him see the marks on her hands, sternly scolding: "You are my junior brother, as your senior sister, taking care of you is only right, isn’t it?"
Hearing this, Zhang Chen smiled, patting Xiaodouding’s head: "Indeed, it is right."
"Zhang Chen!!! You can’t pat my head!!! I’m your senior sister!!! Little kids don’t grow when their heads are patted." Xiaodouding, like a porcupine with raised quills, glared at Zhang Chen, then wriggled out of Zhang Chen’s embrace: "You shouldn’t hold me like this in the future, I find this kind of hug inappropriate! Feels not quite right! I’m not your daughter, how can you hold me like this?"
"Alright, alright, I won’t hold you! I won’t hold you! Let’s eat!" Zhang Chen said good naturedly, fooling, while saying so, he pulled Xiaodouding into his lap again to hold her, seemingly fooling a child:
"Come, let your junior brother pick the biggest piece of meat for you, to reward your care for me these past days."