Mechanical Cave Mansion.
Cultivation Secret Room.
The walls cast from yellow brass expose a large number of mechanical components, some with slowly rotating gears, others with cooperatively moving levers.
The heavy copper door of the chamber has been tightly shut, without a single gap.
The sound of the mechanical components’ operation fills the chamber, continuously adding to the stern and solemn atmosphere.
Ban Ji sits cross-legged on the cushion in the center, expressionless, with his eyes tightly closed.
His cheekbones are prominent, the light shining down upon him casts mottled shadows on his face, already moistening the tip of his hawk nose with sweat.
Suddenly, a whisper comes from the void.
Ban Ji’s heart shudders instantly: "It’s here!"
His body reacts at this moment, his emaciated back abruptly arches, veins standing out on his neck.
Whispers intermittently reach his ears, like strange long fingernails scraping around inside his skull.
Ban Ji grits his teeth and opens his eyes, bloodshot lines rapidly fill his eye sockets.
The whispers quickly become continuous, growing louder to Ban Ji.
His rationality steadily diminishes, his right foot suddenly unbearably itchy!
Ban Ji curls up his right leg, extends his fingers, and instinctively starts scratching.
Unbearably itchy!
Ban Ji slips steel hooks over his fingertips, directly tearing at his boots, frantically scratching.
Soon, the right foot is torn to shreds, revealing stark white bones. The pain that follows is like a thirsty traveler finding droplets of water on a desert trek!
But quickly, the whispers grow as loud as a copper gong, relentlessly pouring into Ban Ji’s ears.
"Shut up! Shut up!" He wraps his hands in demon light and strikes his ears, instantly shattering his eardrums. Yet even losing his hearing, the murmurs only slightly weaken, still resonating in his skull, causing his temples to bulge, veins protruding on his forehead.
At this point, Ban Ji is already lying on the ground, caught between severe pain and unbearable itch, his body twisting like a lone boat struggling in the midst of tempestuous waves.
His head pounds, while the tormenting itch on his right foot feels like a venomous serpent climbing his calf.
Unconsciously, he continuously beats his heel against the floor tiles, causing blood to spatter, mixing flesh and bone fragments into a paste-like substance stuck all around.
The once white leg bone now exudes a tawny murky light, unexpectedly transforming into strips and chunks of mechanisms!
Immortal Aptitude — The Myriad Prostrate Fiend-Beasts!
This is not the side effect of Ban Ji cultivating the demon skill "Greedy Opportunity Demon Heart Technique", but the activation of the Immortal Aptitude, The Myriad Prostrate Fiend-Beasts.
Cultivators possessing this aptitude will continually receive the irrigation of the truths of mechanical techniques, demon sect, and monster path.
In Ban Ji’s vision, chaotic and disordered runes begin to appear.
䥑’’⌇⌇⌗⌘⦻⦼⚩’’’’’’⫣⫤⫥⫦⫩⫪’’’䥝䥞䥟⍡⍢⍣⍤⍥⍦’’’䥰䥱䥲⍧⍨⍩⍪⍫⍬’’’’’’⍭⍮⍯⍰⍱⍲’’...
For these runes, Ban Ji cannot comprehend, amid his screams, tightly closing his eyes.
Darkness is only temporary.
Soon, various runes, like living maggots, break through the darkness and present themselves again in Ban Ji’s vision.
The entire blood and flesh of his right calf have turned into a translucent gel, not only has the leg bone transformed into mechanisms, but it’s also emitting a powerful sucking force.
In the cultivation secret room, there are many sets of brass mechanisms. These mechanisms are drawn by invisible suction, colliding towards Ban Ji’s remaining limb.
Bang bang bang, clang clang clang...
The mechanisms strike together sequentially, tightly absorbed, congealing into masses.
The tawny murky light quickly spreads, splitting and reconstructing these mechanisms.
After more than a dozen breaths.
Ban Ji’s right calf has become unrecognizable. Gears embedded into the leg bone, chainsaws piercing through fascia. Gel-like flesh wraps various foreign objects like living wax.
Simultaneously, Ban Ji’s mana weaves into a net-like array, penetrating into every corner of the right calf.
His entire right leg has expanded into a huge mass, needing two adults to embrace it. The outermost skin has turned into brass, with numerous gears rotating within the leg bone, while at the knee, blood mist continuously spews out.
Ban Ji, due to his screams, has become hoarse in the throat.
His eyes are lifeless, tortured to the point that his pupils are somewhat dilated.
At this time, the jade pendant around his neck suddenly emits an inch of cyan light.
The cyan light enters his mind, and Ban Ji’s gradually confused consciousness suddenly becomes clear.
䥳䥴䥵⍳⍴⍵⍶⍷⍸’’’’’’⍹⍺⎈⎉⎊⎋’’’䥶䥷䥸⎌⎍⎎⎏⎐⎑’’’’’’⎒⎓⎔⎕⏣⏤’...
He barely opens his eyes to check, and various runes seem to almost completely occupy his entire vision. Amidst the gaps between these runes, he sees his right leg, noticing purple intent spreading upward from the knee along the thigh.
"Cut it off for me!"
Ban Ji fiercely swings his palm, his mana bursts forth, slicing into the right thigh like a blade, actually severing it directly.
The severed leg’s blood flows profusely, making Ban Ji gasp, gritting his teeth hard.
His gaze, sharp as a vulture’s, focuses on the wound, disappointedly noticing that there is still purple intent remaining, spreading along the flesh.
As the purple intent intensifies, the unbearable itch returns!
The right calf, actively cut off, is sprayed away by his mana towards the corner.
The already unrecognizable right leg, seemingly unrestrained now, releases even stronger suction power, absorbing the remaining mechanical artifacts in the cultivation secret room.