Flesh Editing

Watching the fist wrapped in swirling deep-blue currents close in on him, Xu Yuan knew full well that he shouldn't meet it head-on. For someone who cultivated qi, pitting his flesh directly against a martial practitioner was sheer folly. He had far too many other options. He could evade its brunt with Void-Stepping Slash, retaliate against the Barbarian King with Qingyu's sword techniques, or even erect a defensive barrier before him. Yet for reasons unknown, at this very instant, Xu Yuan simply wanted to clash with the Barbarian King in a contest of raw physical strength. What was more, this seemingly instinctual urge suppressed both his reason and his combat instincts. Through air that seemed frozen still, just as that slender figure was thrown backward, palm and fist collided violently in midair. In total silence, the shattering ground and the kicked-up gale swept through everything around them. In that moment, a flicker of surprise finally surfaced in Chi Feng's deep eyes. The Minor Cold Season currently ravaging the three northern provinces of Great Yan paled in comparison to the frigid desolation of the Land of Utter Darkness. To survive there, even babes in arms were forced to begin body tempering under the guidance of tribal elders. Those who could not adapt perished in that despairing cold. This bitter climate constrained the Barbarians' population and the paths of cultivation available to them, but it also forged their exceptionally resilient bodies. Within the same realm, across the vast world, the only physical bodies capable of matching a Barbarian's were certain monstrous demon races from Guyuan. Yet right now, his fist had actually been blocked by a human whose cultivation was inferior to his own. Oh, no—an aberrant ghost, rather. A punch thrown by a towering, ten-foot-tall figure was met head-on by Xu Yuan's slender arm. The clash of strength between Xu Yuan and the Barbarian King sent shockwaves through the surrounding air, while ribbon-like streams of deep-blue and scarlet Source Qi scattered madly in all directions! Even so, Chi Feng's eyes showed only mild surprise. "Hiss..." Parting his lips, he drew a deep breath of air into his lungs. The deep-blue barbarian runes across his body suddenly blazed with light, and a dazzling halo abruptly encircled his knotty, muscled arm! Boom! The sudden onslaught of colossal force snapped Xu Yuan's braced arm inch by inch, while the residual force of the punch blasted a crater two feet wide and dozens of zhang deep into the ground below! And that was merely the beginning. The moment their balance broke, Xu Yuan's body tilted uncontrollably to the left for a split second. Seizing that opening, Chi Feng drove his foot into the stone, instantly shattering it, as his other muscle-knotted leg became a blur of deep-blue divine light, carving an arc through the dark to chop down toward Xu Yuan. Yet an instant before it reached Xu Yuan, another change occurred: an identical halo of light formed around Chi Feng's shin. Instantly, the whip kick's speed and power surged even further, slamming diagonally onto Xu Yuan's right shoulder! Crack! Flesh did not splatter, but Xu Yuan's entire right shoulder bone—along with the skeletal structure and flesh beneath—caved inward completely, leaving him looking ghastly and grotesque. His left arm ruined, his right shoulder shattered into a sunken ruin—even for a Transcendent Realm expert, these were crippling injuries! "Changtian!!" Having been thrown back, Li Qingyan leaned against the inner wall of the karst cave, her naked body wrapped in a padded coat. Her snow-white skin peeked through in the whipping gale, but her beautiful eyes were fixed entirely on the figure in the center of the battlefield, dwarfed by the massive, towering frame of the Barbarian King. Yet in the next breath, the worry in her eyes turned into bewildered disbelief. He hadn't fallen. The scarlet figure remained standing, merely leaning a bit further to the side. In silence, Xu Yuan slowly raised his sclera-less, scarlet eyes. Then, bearing the Barbarian King's leg that was still pressed diagonally against his right shoulder, he straightened his posture inch by inch. And throughout the process, the quiet cave resonated with faint crunching and clicking sounds. Amid that chilling rustling, his shattered left arm was forcibly twisted back into place, while the caved-in bones of his right shoulder gradually pushed Chi Feng's leg upward, bit by bit, before knitting back together. Having drawn himself up completely, Xu Yuan slowly reached out, attempting to seize the Barbarian King's shin. Bang! Stamping down, Chi Feng retreated for the very first time. Like lightning, he put distance between himself and the eerie scarlet-clad man. Everything fully restored, Xu Yuan casually patted the right shoulder that had just been crushed, baring a mouth full of fangs in a brilliant grin at the Barbarian King: "Chi Feng, your strikes feel like cotton. Can't you hit any harder?" Chi Feng stood where he was, a thoughtful glint surfacing in his deep-blue eyes as he stared at Xu Yuan. "Even for an aberrant ghost, my 'fist intent' should have obstructed your recovery. Was that because of your clothes?" "I went to all the trouble of absorbing all that creep—surely you didn't think I did it just for fun?" Xu Yuan grinned and pulled back the sleeve of his Blood Jade Glazed Robe, only for his gaze to freeze slightly. Gone. The brownish-red fungal armor that had clung to his body had vanished. Xu Yuan frowned slightly. Creep was a byproduct of aberrant ghosts, and the body most compatible with fungal armor was naturally an aberrant ghost's. The black death armor had likely merged into his flesh. The problem was, even a mortal could clearly feel through their skin the slightest change in something worn so intimately, let alone his current senses as a Transcendent aberrant ghost. Why hadn't he noticed a thing? "Arrogant human. To lose focus while fighting this king?" His voice arrived simultaneously with his towering frame, launching another crushing whip kick! This time, two halos of light encircled the blurred arc of his kicking leg. If this kick landed cleanly, even a Transcendent expert would be killed or crippled. Xu Yuan's mind was still deep in thought, yet his body moved of its own accord. Still no sword, still no incantations or arts gathered. In the stillness, he raised his hand, swung it out, and met the Barbarian King's incoming shin head-on! Boom! The ground cracked and sank as shockwaves rippled outward. The Barbarian King was knocked backward through the rising smoke, skidding dozens of zhang across the stone before halting his momentum, fine cracks appearing on the keratinous armor over his shin. Xu Yuan, however, still stood within the sunken crater formed by the collision of forces, calmly examining the arm that had broken in the direct clash with Chi Feng. His left forearm was bent at a grotesque angle, held together only by torn flesh and skin. The bone within had severed entirely, with white fragments visible piercing through the flesh. Evidently, even with the blood-red rank of black death armor, Xu Yuan's physical toughness was still no match for Barbarian King Chi Feng. Yet that did not matter. He was no martial apprentice who tempered his flesh through martial arts to begin with; aside from its sword techniques, the Blood Yuan Heart Calamity Art's techniques were ill-suited for close quarters. What concerned Xu Yuan now was that his body seemed on the verge of slipping out of his control. Even the agonizing pain of a completely shattered forearm barely registered to his senses. His physical sensations were detaching from his consciousness. Furthermore, blocking the Barbarian King's whip kick with his bare arm just now had not been a conscious choice—his body had moved on its own. As he pondered, Xu Yuan's broken forearm was snapped back into alignment by an eerie force. Clenching his fist experimentally, he found the arm already restored to pristine condition. Rising from the ground and witnessing Xu Yuan's arm heal so seamlessly, Chi Feng slowly exhaled a breath. "This king wondered why my 'fist intent' failed to halt your healing. So that is how it is." Xu Yuan raised his eyes at the words, glancing at him with crimson pupils. "Oh? And what did you figure out?" Staring at the fully healed forearm, the Barbarian King spoke: "Forced stitching. You showed no such ability earlier, which means it comes from the armor that merged into your body." "..." A glint of intrigue flashed through Xu Yuan's eyes. He had only just realized the nature of this self-healing ability himself, yet the Barbarian King had seen right through it. Was this truly the keen insight of a king who ruled an entire race? The fist intent infused into Chi Feng's strikes clung to his wounds like maggots on bone, rendering an aberrant ghost's life origin incapable of healing them immediately. In other words, his body's current regeneration did not stem from his aberrant ghost constitution, but from the scarlet fungal armor fused into his flesh. Upon injury, the fungal armor inside him secreted a substance that forcibly bonded the wounds together. Much like sculpting clay, it forcibly remolded everything within his body back into its original shape. And at this moment, Xu Yuan also felt something else. As long as he willed it, he could reshape his body into any form at any time. Just like Luo Xiran... With that thought, Xu Yuan instinctively glanced at his left arm, and a term suddenly popped into his mind: Flesh editing. Gurgle, gurgle... After a skin-crawling squelch, Xu Yuan's newly healed left arm shifted into a sharp, spiked blade gleaming with a cold edge. "..." Seeing this, deep concern surfaced in Li Qingyan's scarlet eyes. His aberrant ghost transformation seemed to have deepened again... Fortunately, the blade shifted back into a human arm in the next breath, and Xu Yuan's laughing voice echoed through the quiet cave: "Sharp eyes, Chi Feng. The ability this armor granted me is quite handy indeed. Do you still want to fight?" Watching every move of the scarlet-clad man, Chi Feng spoke deliberately: "From the very beginning, this king already made his conditions clear." "Heh." Xu Yuan chuckled and glanced at Li Qingyan, who was looking at him with eyes full of worry. "I'm not handing my princess over to you as a hostage." "?" Meeting his gaze, Li Qingyan felt a moment of confusion, but once she understood, a faint smirk touched her lips. She understood what the Barbarian King had meant, and she knew this fellow had said that deliberately for her ears. Very deliberate. Still, it didn't feel bad. Withdrawing his gaze, Xu Yuan looked back at Chi Feng and laughed softly: "Chi Feng, I've pretty much grown accustomed to this body now. Just as you said, cooperation should be dictated by the strong. I can give you one more chance—one more chance to cooperate. I hope you value it." Hearing the offer of cooperation once again, Chi Feng remained entirely unmoved. Instead, realizing something, he asked: "Are you running out of time?" Xu Yuan's heart tightened, but his expression did not waver as he laughed in response: "What do you mean, running out of time?" Chi Feng stepped slowly to the side, his gaze locked on the scarlet-clad man before him. As he circled, he spoke in deep, halting Great Yan speech: "This king admits that you now pose a threat to me. You might even be able to kill me." What had just occurred made Chi Feng realize what an earth-shaking transformation Xu Yuan's body had undergone. "Yet if you were truly strong enough to kill this king, slaying that Transcendent aberrant ghost in the deepest reaches of the crypt wouldn't be difficult for you now. If you weren't pressed for time, why would you insist on cooperating with me? Wouldn't getting rid of me in this crypt be a far better choice?" Xu Yuan stood where he was, shaking his head with a faint smile: "Chi Feng, mutual destruction does not serve my interests. Even if I kill you, that Transcendent aberrant ghost remains..." "No." Chi Feng interrupted Xu Yuan, his voice deep, chilly, and hollow: "Xu Yuan, this king does not object to lies, but stubborn falsehoods only make you look pathetic. "This king has spent ten days in this cavern, and I have observed the properties of your body. You can control everything in this cave system just like that Transcendent aberrant ghost. "So long as you can kill this king, with your current aberrant ghost body, there is no such thing as mutual destruction." At this point, Chi Feng halted and pointed a finger at Xu Yuan's solid crimson eyes: "If this king's deduction is correct, you can barely sustain your human consciousness." "..." Xu Yuan said nothing. "You still wish to cooperate with this king because you want to head into the depths of the crypt to retrieve something that will prolong your survival, correct?" "..." Xu Yuan remained silent. After the Barbarian King's deep voice trailed off, only the howling wind remained within the cave. After a long pause, Xu Yuan smiled. Looking up at the ceiling of the karst cave, he took a deep breath. Clap, clap... clap. Soft applause echoed out. Xu Yuan lowered his gaze to meet the Barbarian King's deep-blue eyes and smiled: "The Barbarian King, foreign ruler that you are, truly is troublesome. You're right—I really am running out of time." Hearing that, Chi Feng's deep voice rose slightly: "This king thought you would deny it." "Deny it before someone who firmly believes his own judgment once it's made?" Xu Yuan shook his head and spread his hands. "I wouldn't bother with something so pointless." With that, Xu Yuan fixed his gaze on him, speaking word by word: "So, tell me: what is your answer?" Chi Feng's gaze did not yield an inch as he uttered flatly: "The terms stand." Hearing this, Li Qingyan lowered her gaze and let out a breath: "Xu Yuan..." Xu Yuan shot her a cold glance: "If you want to put on some sob story melodrama, shut the hell up." "..." Li Qingyan rolled her eyes at him and sighed. "What's with the attitude? I won't say it, then. Be careful and don't get yourself killed." With that, Li Qingyan acted with her usual crisp decisiveness. With a flash of her silhouette, she grabbed Xiao Bai—who was cowering in the corner—by the scruff of her neck and vanished into the tunnel exit. With the two women gone, only two figures—one scarlet, one blue—remained facing each other across the tunnel carved out by the Source Crystal bomb. Looking at the massive figure that had once seemed invincibly strong, killing intent surged in Xu Yuan's scarlet eyes: "Your choice is truly foolish beyond measure." "Heh... This king, on the other hand, quite admires yours." A smile crept onto Chi Feng's rugged lips: "Besides, you don't actually think you're guaranteed to beat this king, do you?" "..." Those words spoken, the cave fell silent. In an instant, both sprang into motion.