A Strange Environment
The beast spirit had to be attacked personally, resulting in a blood feud between the two. Its hostility, along with its instinctive resistance against being enslaved, simply made subduing this beast spirit a fantasy for any average beast spirit master.
“Resistance is futile!” Leylin shook his head. Magi and Warlocks definitely cultivated their truesouls to a greater degree compared to the aboriginals of the Purgatory World.
With his tricks and refined manipulation techniques, it was possible to even extract the hatred from the beast spirit directly, as though it was a highly precise surgery. This would greatly reduce the difficulty of subduing the beast spirit.
However, in comparison to making use of one’s truesoul to defeat it, the difficulty of such a surgery would be much higher, and the time required would be much longer.
Thus, Leylin chose to subdue it forcefully, instead of taking an approach that would make the beast spirit’s hatred simmer down.
“If I get rid of the beast spirit’s will to resist entirely, as well as its hostility, I’m afraid that perhaps even a rank 4 beast spirit master would be able to make this rank 5 beast spirit submit to him, especially Belinda. With the effect her bloodline energy has, the probability of success is much higher... Of course, it’s of no use to me all...”
Leylin was aware that he might have unintentionally unearthed an even more terrifying way of utilizing the Purgatory World’s beast spirit spells. It was a pity that he didn’t belong to this world, and that he didn’t major in beast spirit spells. Hence, he could only toss this idea to a side.
*Hiss...*
Following the invasion of Leylin’s soul force, the alabaster phantom within the crystal ball started to appear abnormally irritable. The scarlet tongue kept flashing continuously.
“It’s just like a mantis trying to stop a chariot!” Leylin snorted coldly. The horrifying soul force that followed after immediately made the little snake shrink to a corner, as though it had been struck by lightning. Even the radiance in its pupils became dull.
“If we maintain this pace, it would be possible to thoroughly tame it within roughly half a month’s time. Before arriving at the holy city, this beast spirit can be sealed...”
Leylin nodded as he assessed his progress.
For an average beast spirit master, the amount of time spent on subduing this beast spirit would often need to be measured in years. Leylin’s method of removing the fragments of resentment from the beast spirit would also take as long. Only the most simple and cruel method of subduing it would require the shortest amount of time.
“It would take about a month to traverse the Serpentes Plains and arrive at the holy city. In that case, I should be able to advance the truesoul to Full Moon rank before we reach the holy city...”
Leylin stroked his chin.
Judging by the strength of rank 5 beast spirits in repaying their owners, advancing the truesoul to Full Moon was initially a feasible task. But now, with the presence of the Curse Mark of Ten Thousand Snakes, Leylin probably needed to prepare a few more things.
“Taming a beast spirit is not something that can be done in a day. It will need some time to prevent it from crumbling straightaway.”
When his work was done for the day, Leylin kept his crystal ball. There was a hint of rumination in his eyes.
“Since we’ve arrived at the Serpentes Plains, ‘it’ should have started...” A glaring chill was dispelled from Leylin’s pupils. It reeked of extreme evil, and it even made the temperature of the surroundings fall greatly.
Fortunately, he had deployed a barrier. Otherwise, Belinda and her sister would have detected that something was off.
By then, after seeing what Brother ‘Nick’ had turned into, it would be questionable whether Sophia would still continue to stick to Leylin like before.
.....
*Swish! Swish!*
The yellowish-green underbrushes swayed continuously. Shortly after, the stout shadow of an animal ran across in a flash, making Sophia scream in excitement.
Maybe it was because she wasn’t very intelligent, or perhaps it was the result of being constrained within the family for a long time, but everything that the young girl had witnessed on her journey amazed her incessantly. It even made for a few jokes.
“Sophia!” Belinda yelled. She was unhappy, but didn’t reprimand the child directly.
With both her and Leylin around, they could naturally confirm that the little chap that just ran past was the most harmless creature around that would cause no harm to Sophia.
After all, Sophia was the hybrid borne of a rank 5 Alabaster Devilsnake. It wouldn’t be a problem to achieve the standard of a rank 2 or 3 Magus merely through the strength from her bloodline.
She might not even need to cultivate her energy, and may even rise to higher realms solely through ageing. It could be said that she was enjoying a natural advantage, just that her childish mentality might not allow her to put them to good use.
“A dusty pink rabbit!” Contrarily, Leylin recognised the name of that creature.
With the A.I. Chip’s amazing learning abilities, Leylin was no longer the clueless fool that he was when he had first stepped into the Purgatory World.
[Dusty pink rabbit. Strength: 1.3, Agility: 2.5, Vitality: 1.9, Spirit: 0.7. A creature special to the Hale Continent of omnivorous nature with an extremely extensive diet. Innate skill: breeding. As long as it obtains a sufficient amount of food, the dusty pink rabbit’s ability to propagate knows no limits. Its breeding season occurs all year round, throughout the four seasons. (Note: The mapping of the above-mentioned creature’s genome has shown anomalies. Discovered that the part about reproduction contains traces of artificial optimization!)]
Although such a rabbit would definitely be considered a demonic animal among the normal humans in the Magus World, it was as weak as an ant in Leylin’s eyes. What caught him by surprise was the modification made by the A.I. Chip in the annotation.
“It’s not just a dusty pink rabbit!”
*Hiss...* At this instant, a giant snake as thick as a person’s arm slithered by the roadside. A giant grey rat hung from its mouth. Through the A.I. Chip’s analysis, although the grey rat’s data was endlessly similar to the dusty pink rabbit’s in all aspects, it was clear that their reformed reproductive abilities were exactly the same. This made their already formidable innate skill even more terrifying.
“Wow...” Sophia was slightly startled by the gray snake, but she still went forth without fear, seeming as though she wanted to touch its head.
*Hiss...* The giant grey snake let Sophia do as she pleased without resisting at all. This made Sophia giggle with laughter, and at the end, the giant grey snake even placed the food that it had caught in front of Sophia as a show of its subservience. It was only until Sophia explicitly declined, did it then continue to hold the rat in its mouth as it slithered through the bushes.
The bloodline of a rank 5 Alabaster Devil had the ability to restrain most of the common snake types across the Serpentes Plains. This was why Belinda was so at ease.
Leylin, on the other hand, gazed at the trail left behind by the grey snake, seemingly in deep thought.
“I’m afraid that the Snake Dowager was the one who tampered with the animals at the bottom layer of the food chain. It’s rumoured that there are all kinds of giant snake types in the Serpentes Plains that are incapable of transforming. These include the Giant Kemoyin Serpent, the Double Loop Snake, the Three-Headed Python, the Purgatory Fire Python and so on, as well as a great many mixed-bloods and other subspecies. Even though the Serpentes Plains is incomparably plentiful, it might not be able to withstand such a tremendous consumption of energy. But if it’s just the bottom layer of the food chain, perhaps there wouldn’t be enough...”
Leylin grabbed a weed at random. There was fresh soil on the stem, and the pale yellow roots felt moist.
“Sure enough, even the dusty pink rabbit’s food had been taken into consideration. There must be more changes in the environment to come, and even things such as them getting fatter at fixed times...”
“Seems like the entire Serpentes Plains is basically a cultivating ground for giant snake types...”
The corners of Leylin’s lips revealed a slight smile. Just by observing the Snake Dowager’s method of doing things, he knew that its academic attainments regarding bloodline experiments were definitely not few.
“Individuals manufactured in the laboratory are bound to have defects. The best method is still to seek for coincidentally mutated animals born in nature! The Snake Dowager’s plan is actually identical to the hypothesis that the A.I. Chip raised previously, just that...”
A hint of suspicion slowly appeared on Leylin’s forehead.
“What is the Snake Dowager trying to achieve from this? By creating an even stronger individual, isn’t it afraid that something more powerful would emerge?”
“No! Perhaps it wouldn’t allow a powerful being from the various tribes to arise, but maybe a first-rate mutated individual would be permitted... Or maybe she’s trying to cultivate an emperor bloodline that can fully take control...”
“It’s also possible that she’s performing these experiments purely out of curiosity. Or perhaps she wants to break through a bottleneck herself, and attain the rank 9 eternal realm or something... There are way too many possibilities...”
All sorts of possibilities flashed across in Leylin’s mind, making him frown slightly.
“Anyway, no matter what, the environment here is much better than I expected. There will absolutely be no problem in carrying out the plan...”
“Nick! What are you thinking about?”
Belinda walked over unhurriedly. Ever since she had gotten her revenge, she seemed to have unloaded a heavy burden worth thousands of kilograms. Even her usual grim expression had melted more or less—of course, this was only true in front of Leylin and Sophia.
“Oh! Nothing much, I’m just wondering if the Serpentes Plains will be dangerous...”
Leylin smiled.
“This place is indeed a treacherous for other foreign tribes. After all, among the snake clans that cannot transform, there are dreadful giant snakes that are rank 5 or 6... Even strong rank 6 contenders would be besieged by these humongous pythons, and I’m afraid that they would only end up falling...”
“But we’re different. The descendants of the Snake Dowager will never be attacked on the Serpentes Plains! Of course, this refers to those rational giant snakes. If we bump into those that are as stubborn as a rock and are influenced by their instinctive appetite, then we have no other way out even if it’s us. But fortunately, such snake types that are affected by their instincts are usually only rank 3 or below...” Belinda seemed rather proud.
She clearly understood the Serpentes Plains very well. She even had connections in the holy city. This was why Leylin was insistent on bringing her along.
“Hm!” Leylin nodded, then looked at Belinda, “You are a wanted for a trial. About that contact in the holy city...”
“Rest assured! That’s my close friend. Besides, this is the Hale Continent after all!”
Belinda was obviously highly confident. “Nick, you haven’t entered the holy city before, have you? Then you’ll have to register your identity. It will be more troublesome for such a frequent traveller like you, but no matter, this friend of mine will come in handy...”
Leylin identified himself to Belinda as a mixed-blood Alabaster Devilsnake who had always been on the go, and he hadn’t even been to the holy city. Although such situations were rare, the Hale Continent was so vast that anything could happen. Besides, Leylin’s Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline could not be falsified, and thus Belinda was convinced.