59 The hunt begins. (1/2)
Liang Zhou gave a strong nod at Li Yang's words, his back straight as a spear as he maintained his determined expression. Besides determination, there was a light of trust in his eyes as he looked at Li Yang. If the person who performed the procedure had ill intentions or made a mistake, it was easy for the one being transformed to die without a complete body. Seeing his expression, Li Yang's lips curved up.
”Since you have such trust in me, how could I possibly fail? On the thunder's honor, I will make you the future king of this Cloud Wilderness.”
Li Yang did not waste any more time after speaking, his fingers digging into the head of the eagle type Demonic beast, pulling out its eyes. He placed the two severed eyes over Liang Zhou's, the Qi within his body surging as he performed the technique. At first, the eyes only started to glow a little, but the strength of the light quickly grew, stinging the eyes of anyone who looked at it.
Liang Zhou was the one who experienced the worst pain, his own eyes melting under a sudden strong heat that threatened to tear his mind apart. Darkness engulfed him, the pain making him want to scream out. But he bit down on his lips and he endured. As the future leader of the tribe, he had rarely gotten to show it, but he too desired strength. Strength to protect the tribe, to provide a better life for them, strength to stand tall and proud. And seeing how strong Li Yang had been upon returning, he even somewhat desired enough strength to become someone that Li Yang could proudly call a friend. So he endured, no matter the pain, no matter the darkness, he endured it.
The eagle eyes started to shrink somewhat, growing to a size where they would fit Liang Zhou. It was a slow process that took almost half an hour, Liang Zhou enduring the pain and darkness all the while, his teeth puncturing his lips, droplets of blood running down his throat. After a little over half an hour, light returned to Liang Zhou, the eagle eyes settling in his empty eye sockets.
While Liang Zhou was letting out a sigh of relief at the pain vanishing, Li Yang continued to pour Qi into the eyes, their appearance changing until they looked like Liang Zhou's old eyes. Only once it looked like nothing had happened to Liang Zhou was the procedure over. Liang Zhou did not feel any increase in his strength, but his vision had become immeasurably stronger, to a point where it felt like the world around him had slowed down somewhat. But Li Yang's voice quickly pulled him out of his awe-struck state.
”That was the first one, now we move on to the main piece.”
Liang Zhou's back was quickly filled with cold sweat at the prospects of going through that pain once more, but seeing Li Yang's expectant expression, he still gave a strong nod of his head. Li Yang proceeded to tear out the spine of the panther, as well as the two wings of the eagle. Liang Zhou did not know which sort of mystic technique Li Yang used, or where he had learned it, but the spine and wings started to slowly fuse together, becoming a single entity.
Once they had merged, he turned towards Liang Zhou, who understood what Li Yang meant. He took off his shirt and laid down on the ground, revealing his bare and somewhat scarred back to Li Yang. The spine and wings were placed against Liang Zhou's back, Li Yang starting the technique once more. Liang Zhou thought he had been prepared for the pain after experiencing it once, but this time it was far worse than the first time.
This time, his spine and shoulder blades crushed themselves, turning into a paste that squeezed itself out through his skin. Had it not been for the special technique involved, the removal of his spine would have immediately killed him. This time, Liang Zhou was unable to resist, a guttural roar escaping his lips. The villagers looked on in horror as Liang Zhou roared in pain, but Li Yang's eyes were completely calm and focused.
Strength always came at a price, and this pain was the price Liang Zhou had to pay. Li Yang also couldn't afford to get distracted or let his thoughts waver, as the slightest mistake would result in the death of Liang Zhou. So he hardened his heart and ignored the cries of pain, focusing fully on the task at hand.
The process was a bit slower this time, taking an entire two hours before it was finally finished. By the time it was over, Liang Zhou had screamed so much that his throat was bloody and hoarse, his voice unable to be released, his body limp and almost unable to move. He thought he would need to spend a bit of time resting, but the moment the procedure was complete, an unearthly strength filled his entire body, flooding through his veins and bones.
The size of his dantian rapidly increased, strange runes forming and taking up position next to the runes he had carved with his own effort. As Li Yang had transmitted everything he knew about the technique, Liang Zhou knew that these were the Demon Runes that were part of the technique, they were what allowed him to unleash the full might of the Demonic beast part. In just a short moment, three such runes had quickly formed, glowing with a demonic red light as they filled him with strength.