239 Mutation (1/2)

Hei Gou was fighting with the pain that was wreaking havoc in his body. He was not losing his consciousness, but the pain was so severe that it made him wish that he could slip into unconsciousness or even die. Still, he understood that his strength would skyrocket if he managed to persevere through this. He could feel it rising as things were right now.

Xue Wei and Lin Xiao could not cultivate as all the heaven-and-earth essence in the carriage was being greedily absorbed by Hei Gou.

At first, they were watching over him, fearful that something would go wrong, but after a day they understood that they could do nothing about it.

Xue Wei sat back on his bench and found all the many different martial art techniques that he had gotten in the auction back in Golden Crow City.

There were a full twenty-nine techniques in front of him; most of them were superior ranked and there were also a few profound martial art techniques.

A few of them were sword techniques, some relied on the physical body and some used spiritual energy.

Xue Wei sorted them all out while sometimes glancing at the pain-riddled Hei Gou to ensure that he was still alive.

First, he sorted the abilities after their type. One stack consisted of the ones that require spiritual energy, the other of the ones that require Qi.

After having split them into these two groups, he further split the Qi techniques into another two depending on whether they required a weapon or not.

After this, he was surrounded by three stacks of martial art techniques.

He quickly placed the Qi techniques into his storage ring and focused on the spiritual energy techniques.

The first book he picked up was about a superior skill called Mind Vision. It was a non-combat ability, but it had great uses. It allowed the user to see through the eyes of their targets, without the target being able to sense it.

He quickly started practicing this ability with Bai Tianyi as his target. The reason he chose Tianyi was very simple—he was the best at using spiritual energy among them, so once he manages to use it without Tianyi noticing, then it would have been perfected.

Lin Xiao kept watching Hei Gou closely while talking with Bai Tianyi. They could not cultivate and they had no skills to practice so they engaged in casual banter.

”So you were a genius only seen once in a millennium? What is so special about you?” Bai Tianyi asked in a slightly rude way, but Lin Xiao did not seem upset about it.

”I can determine whether or not a person is a human or beast with a single glance,” Lin Xiao said with some pride. Bai Tianyi looked at him with praise in his eyes. ”That must be very convenient,” he could not help but state in praise. Lin Xiao grinned at him.

”At the same time, I also have cultivation talent that is almost second to none,” Lin Xiao continued smugly. ”I was supposed to be in the army by now, but because of my outstanding performance and value, the temple would not let me go and got a permission to keep me away.”

”I had looked forward to leaving that stale old temple and seeing the world for once, but I got nothing but old men telling me to train hard. I couldn't bear living like that for the rest of my life! I had no choice but to escape.”

Bai Tianyi could see some desperation in Lin Xiao's eyes, as if his old lifestyle had been dreadfully oppressive to him.

”Well, I am sure you will experience quite a thrilling life following us around,” Bai Tianyi was not sure of what else to say.

Lin Xiao nodded his head. ”I have no doubt about that,” he said decisively.

Like this, time passed by. Hei Gou's groans of pain were growing less frequent, he stopped trembling as much, and at some point he managed to prop himself up and sit with his legs crossed. Although the pain was still wreaking havoc in his body, he had now managed to control it.

Last time he underwent a mutation, his body had changed and evolved, but now every cell in his body was mutating. He would no longer be a Celestial Dog once his mutation ends. He would be a completely new race.

Xue Wei glanced at him from time to time, but most of his focus was on learning Mind Vision, which he slowly mastered.

At the start, Bai Tianyi could clearly sense every time Xue Wei cast the ability, but as time went on he had to actively search his mind to see whether or not his friend had started tapping his vision, and eventually he could not even sense this.

On the third day, Xue Wei smiled happily as he had finally mastered the Mind Vision to the very limit. At the same time, Hei Gou spat out a mouthful of foul air and slowly opened his eyes, which were glowing golden.

His hair was still black, but there was a dark purple shine to it. His body seemed much stronger than it had been before, the muscles bulging under his clothes.

”Are you okay now?” Xue Wei asked curiously and with some concern. ”It seemed to be a rather tough mutation compared to last.”

”It was painful!” Hei Gou instantly wheezed. His voice was slightly hoarse as if his throat had dried up.