Chapter 176: Chapter 157: Evolution, Dark Seal

Its rapidly moving figure came to a sudden halt.

At the same time, the four nearby Electric Fire Cannon Insects swiveled their barbed tails in unison, aiming them at the Blood Demon Leader.

BZZZT BZZZT BZZT.

Crimson lightning flashed.

Four rapidly moving electric orbs slammed into the Blood Demon Leader.

Countless red bolts of electricity danced across its body.

"Ling!"

Seizing the opportunity, Yin Yi’s body tensed. Streams of white vapor flowed from the four tender green leaves on her back.

She skimmed gracefully through the air. The green Spiritual Power Longsword in her hand flashed with a cyan light. Empowered by Han Ning’s Spiritual Surge, the blade shot out from just over a meter to nearly three meters in length as she swiped it across the Blood Demon Leader’s neck.

SWOOSH.

A brilliant green light flared from the blade.

A heavy head tumbled to the ground.

Purple blood gushed out like a fountain, spraying high into the air.

The three-meter-tall headless corpse crashed heavily to the ground, twitching uncontrollably.

With the Blood Demon Leader dead, the scattered Little Kalami Blood Demons posed no further threat to Han Ning.

Yin Yi, Egg Pancake, and the five Puppet Insects began to quickly clear the battlefield.

Han Ning’s expression remained unchanged. Screams of agony rose and fell, the sound waves echoing through the stone forest and carrying far into the distance.

The sound of countless flapping wings came from all directions.

Blood Demon after Blood Demon swarmed madly into the stone forest where Han Ning waited.

With each one that entered, Yin Yi would blast it with a destructive Cyan Wood Radiance, grievously wounding the reckless Blood Demon. Then, the Puppet Insects would drag the creature to the center. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

After they had killed more than thirty Awakened Level Blood Demons, no more flew out from any other direction.

But... Han Ning could still hear the faint, scraping sound of limbs moving in the distance.

Even the stupidest of the remaining Blood Demons now understood they faced an unstoppable enemy and no longer dared to swarm in mindlessly.

"Heh, even a hero can’t fend off a mob and a sneak attack." Han Ning deactivated his Spiritual Surge state. He glanced at the fallen Blood Demon Leader and flicked his hands. Ten fleshy, blood-patterned tendrils shot out from his fingertips, each one binding an Awakened Level Blood Demon.

The remaining Blood Demons were bound by Yin Yi’s vines.

Dragging the Blood Demon corpses, Han Ning left the stone forest. He found a relatively secluded clearing with few Soul Beasts nearby and stopped.

A panel materialized before his eyes.

He followed the method described on it, arranging the Awakened Level Blood Demons one by one.

Gazing at the strange diagram on the panel, he walked over to a still-twitching Awakened Level Blood Demon and raised his palm.

A sharp, long spike, glowing with a bloody light, pierced the Blood Demon’s body.

The bone spike acted like a giant straw, greedily sucking up the blood.

One by one, the Blood Demons’ bodies and brains shriveled up.

This time, the remaining Energy on the panel did not increase; it all seemed to flow into the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm’s body.

When the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm conveyed a feeling of "satiation," Han Ning roughly measured the grassy area. He marked a central point, walked five meters out to establish a radius, and began to draw strange-looking Runes on the ground with blood, following the panel’s instructions.

The Blood Demon’s blood was a pale purple. It trickled down the bone spike and dripped onto the ground, forming an exceptionally strange and alluringly grotesque scene.

After he finished each section, the panel would display a prompt to help with corrections: [Current Progress: 1%→2%].

The blood-siphoning "Array" wasn’t large, just five meters in radius, and he quickly finished drawing the strange Runes.

Next, he placed all the corpses of the Awakened Level Blood Demons around the outer edge.

Under the watchful eyes of Yin Yi and Egg Pancake, Han Ning walked to the center of the circle, holding the Black Crystal Stone he had dug from the Blood Demon Leader’s body and the massive heart of the Winged Demon Leader.

Countless tentacles extended from his hands, enveloping the Black Crystal Stone and the massive heart.

BOOM!

The next moment, a blazing, blood-red light erupted from Han Ning’s body and surged toward the sky.

The instant the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm began to absorb the crystal stone and the heart, Han Ning’s consciousness went blank.

For a moment, he thought he saw an endless ocean of black and red liquid, which churned into colossal waves that came crashing down upon him.

BOOM!

A portion of the surging torrent of Blood Qi split off from the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm and flooded into his body.

Han Ning’s consciousness was already fading, overwhelmed by the surging Energy and the torrent of Blood Qi.

Even his body was swept up by the shockwave of energy, left hovering above the grass.

The surrounding blades of grass were disintegrated by the radiating aftershocks of Energy, turning to fine powder.

From the outside, a network of black and red veins spread across Han Ning’s flesh-toned skin, which constantly emitted an eerie black mist.

The red light was most brilliant around his heart.

The thunderous beat of his heart, like a war drum, echoed across the lawn. If anyone else from the academy had heard it, they might have mistaken it for a DJ party.

Spiritual Power: 21 (Tier One, 68%→69%→70%...)

THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP.

"Squeak~"

The relatively weak Egg Pancake couldn’t stand the uncomfortable pressure on its heart and hastily retreated several dozen paces.

「An unknown amount of time passed.」

Han Ning’s consciousness returned.

He felt an unprecedented power coursing through his body.

With a flicker of his Spiritual Power, a purplish-red, blood-patterned flesh tendril shot out from his palm. It coiled in mid-air before transforming into a sharp spike.

The spike radiated a faint black mist, exuding an eerie aura.

’The All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm... it’s evolved...’

Han Ning summoned the panel.

[

Spiritual Power Level: Tier One (87%)

Current Spiritual Power: 26

]

[

Race: All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm

Gender: Male

Talent: C

Level: Extraordinary (1/2500)

Talent: Muscle Activation, Basic Mimicry, Dark Seal

Soul Techniques: Dissection III (1/1600), Blood Qi Burst I (Shadow Form) (1/2000), Demonization I (1/2000)

Power: 67

Body: 212

Agility: 0.1

Spiritual Energy: 72

Insect Type Affinity: 70

Elemental Affinity (Dark): 17

]

Talent:

[Dark Seal]: Any creature touched by the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm’s body will have its Elemental Sensing Ability sealed to a certain degree by Dark Energy, its Blood Qi suppressed, and its perception affected.

[Basic Mimicry]: In addition to retaining its ability to simulate insects, the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm can mimic the forms, Soul Techniques, and Talents of other Soul Beasts. It can imitate 30% of the abilities of any creature it has observed.

Soul Techniques:

[Blood Qi Burst I (Shadow Form)]: Based on the original effect of Blood Qi Burst, this increases the effect by 50%. When Blood Qi Burst is activated, the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm enters Shadow Form, suppressing the Blood Qi fluctuations of all creatures within a certain range.

[Demonization]: The All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm sacrifices its own flesh and blood, causing a controlled mimicry to undergo a life transition for a short time, entering a demonized state. Its power level increases from its current base, and the power of all its Soul Techniques is amplified across the board. Current estimated Demonization duration (for 1 mimicry): 10s.

Side Effect: Cannot use Demonization again for 3 days. The body enters a weakened state, and the power of all Soul Techniques is reduced.

Han Ning felt the surging Blood Qi faintly radiating from the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm inside him. ’Incredible...’ he thought.

He looked down. The Winged Demon’s heart in his hand hadn’t been fully absorbed by the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm yet. Its surface, once like Blood Jade, had only dimmed slightly. It looked like it could be used again.

Unlike before, it was no longer beating slowly. Its light was contained, so it wouldn’t affect any nearby creatures.

He wrapped the heart in vines, placed it back in his waist pouch, and then looked down at the newly visible muscle definition in his arms. He couldn’t resist giving his arm a powerful swing.

WHOOSH.

His arm cut through the air with a dull thud.

He picked up a rock and threw it into the distance.

With a sharp WHIZ, the stone shot out like a bullet. It struck a large tree dozens of meters away, leaving a shallow indent in the trunk.

"It’s not just the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm that evolved. My own body seems to have gotten much stronger, too."

He compared his own body to some of the weakest Soul Beasts.

’Roughly... just based on physical strength, am I already at the level of an Entry Level I flesh-and-blood Soul Beast?’

’That’s equivalent to being able to take a shot from an automatic rifle without losing combat capability, as long as it doesn’t hit a vulnerable spot.’

’A little bit stronger than the weakest ones, like the Demon Eye Frog or the Iron-toothed Snake.’

’It’s still very weak compared to most Soul Beasts, but my ability to resist unknown risks has improved a lot.’

’If I had to fight Insect Servants in hand-to-hand combat, I think I could take on several at once.’

His focus returned to the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm.