Mid-Grade Gene Optimization Serum

Chapter 22: Mid-Grade Gene Optimization Serum

After sending the three extortionist disciples on their way, Chen Lin returned to his room.

He pondered for a moment, then took out the jade slip Qiu Ming had given him earlier, pressed it against his forehead, and closed his eyes to scan it.

The jade slip contained a wealth of information, including the sect's rules, the distribution of power among the Seventy-Two Branches of Myriad Demon, and the forbidden grounds of the Myriad Demon Sect.

After a long while, Chen Lin finally lowered the jade slip and opened his eyes, his expression grave and enlightened.

It turned out that although the seventy-two demon branches each had their own duties, above them stood the Elder Hall, the Elite Academy, the True Inheritance Hall, the Punishment Hall, and other institutions. These were the true core of the Myriad Demon Sect, places that entry-level disciples could not access.

Outer disciples and registered disciples were the lowest rung of the Myriad Demon Sect. To put it bluntly, they were disciples raised like livestock.

This realization cooled much of Chen Lin's joy at having just broken through to the Xiantian Realm, replacing it with a heavy, icy feeling in his heart.

Raising disciples like livestock meant, in plain terms, that the Myriad Demon Sect treated these disciples of limited aptitude just as humans treated pigs, cattle, and sheep.

Every disciple raised as livestock had to cultivate to the Sea-Opening Realm within thirty years of joining the sect. If they failed, they were like livestock awaiting slaughter, at the sect's mercy. Those luckier ones might be exiled to a mining vein and demoted to mine slaves, digging up Spirit Stones and rare materials for the sect. Those less fortunate would have their souls and flesh harvested, either to prepare pills or to refine Dharma Artifacts...

A brutal system of elimination, the law of the jungle!

This was also why the Myriad Demon Sect's outer and registered disciples banded together into small factions, scheming and competing over cultivation resources. Naturally, newly initiated disciples became fat sheep in their eyes, ripe for extortion.

Of course, they wouldn't casually offend disciples with exceptional talents and limitless prospects. Disciples like Chen Lin, with ordinary aptitude and no backing, became their prime targets.

Unfortunately, Senior Brother Jiang and the other two had been out of luck. They had thought Chen Lin was a fat sheep, only to kick an iron plate. Not only had they failed to seize his Spirit Stones and spirit pills, they had ended up losing the wealth they'd accumulated over many years.

It seemed that everywhere, strength came first. Chen Lin sighed, stood up, and walked out of the courtyard.

He was going to the Immortal Treasury Pavilion to choose an immortal art for cultivation.

The Immortal Treasury Pavilion was where entry-level disciples chose their immortal arts. It housed many cultivation methods suited to the Demon Race, but the truly powerful immortal arts were naturally in the hands of the branch masters and other experts, who taught them only to their personal disciples. Outer and registered disciples like them could cultivate only the inferior immortal arts in the Immortal Treasury Pavilion.

Half an hour later, Chen Lin gazed at the elegant pavilion before him, its three characters, "Immortal Treasury Pavilion," written with bold, sweeping strokes, then stepped inside.

The Immortal Treasury Pavilion had four floors, and the higher the floor, the higher the grade of the immortal arts. The first floor held a collection of Yellow-grade immortal arts.

Immortal arts were divided into four grades—Heaven, Earth, Mystic, and Yellow—and each grade into upper, middle, and lower tiers. Yet even Heaven-grade arts were merely inferior methods that could barely open the Sea of Consciousness. Above these four grades were even higher-level immortal arts, the true, consummate methods of divine power.

Apart from a book called Dao Heaven, whose grade he didn't know, the only art Chen Lin cultivated was the Dragon-Elephant Nirvana Art, an Earth-grade immortal art of limited power. Ordinary ferocious beasts might be able to cultivate to the Sea-Opening Realm with the Dragon-Elephant Nirvana Art alone, but Dao Heaven was exceedingly strict. It had made the Dragon-Elephant Nirvana Art the very foundation for entering the Xiantian Realm, and he had already mastered it completely. So now, aside from Dao Heaven, Chen Lin had no further cultivation method.

Chen Lin glanced at the hundreds of jade slips containing immortal arts, each protected by a restriction, arranged across the Immortal Treasury Pavilion's first floor. Without stopping, he went straight to the highest floor, where the Heaven-grade immortal arts were kept.

"Six Prisons Mad Blade"

"Reckless Baleful Thunder Palm"

"Green Flame Demon Art"

"Nether Finger Technique"

Frowning, Chen Lin put down one jade slip after another and returned them to their places. Though these immortal arts were terrifyingly powerful, none were what he wanted.

"You're a newly initiated disciple, aren't you? Judging by your aura, you must have just broken through to the Xiantian Realm. Are you looking to choose a body-tempering immortal art?"

Just then, another disciple browsing the immortal arts glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and asked in a lazy drawl.

Chen Lin paused, then sized up the disciple before him. Seeing that he had a solid mid-Xiantian cultivation, Chen Lin cupped his hands. "That's right. I am indeed looking for a body-tempering immortal art. Does Senior Brother have any recommendations?"

"Heh. Body-tempering immortal arts aren't easy to find. There isn't a single one on this floor among the Heaven-grade immortal arts. Most of the powerful body-tempering methods are in the hands of the branch masters. If you want a body-tempering immortal art, you can only choose from the Mystic-grade arts."

The disciple seemed to be in a fairly good mood. He glanced at Chen Lin and said, "Most outer disciples cultivate the middle-tier Mystic-grade Hundred Refinement Art. It's also the best body-tempering immortal art in the entire Immortal Treasury Pavilion, and its effects are decent enough. You can just ask the disciple in charge on the second floor for it."

With that, the disciple turned around, pressed a jade slip to his forehead, and paid Chen Lin no further attention.

"Thank you."

Chen Lin's eyes flickered. He cupped his hands in thanks, then headed for the second floor.

Chen Lin had a reason for choosing a body-tempering immortal art. Simply put, for a Xiantian expert to advance further and reach the Sea-Opening Realm, the process involved tempering the body. The stronger the body, the easier it was to open the Sea of Consciousness within the soul. Only after opening the Sea of Consciousness could one cultivate true divine powers.

A cultivator's body was a kingdom, and the soul was its emperor. The skin and bones were its ministers, while the spiritual energy in the body was its people. Controlling spiritual energy was like a wise emperor governing his kingdom, strengthening its skin and bones. Only then could the kingdom flourish for generations.

Most disciples chose immortal arts that strengthened the body. Only by tempering and hardening the body again and again, forging it into a true body of metal and stone that blades and swords could scarcely harm, could one bear the power of the soul and open the Sea of Consciousness!

Chen Lin went up to the second floor and handed his identity token to the disciple in charge of the Immortal Treasury Pavilion. As he'd hoped, he obtained the body-tempering immortal art, Hundred Refinement Art.

Finally, because Chen Lin enjoyed the special privileges of a personal disciple, he returned to the fourth floor and chose two powerful immortal arts, Thunder Flash Step and Six Prisons Mad Blade. Only then did he head back, satisfied.

Back in his room, Chen Lin didn't begin cultivating the Hundred Refinement Art. Instead, he took from his Storage Bag the two bottles of Gene Optimization Serum he'd received as a reward for his main quest.

"Mid-Grade Gene Optimization Serum: Extracts superior DNA fragments from a living organism and recombines them through evolution, unlocking the organism's potential and purifying its bloodline. Warning: There is a small chance of activating ancient genes lingering in the bloodline, resulting in unpredictable changes."

Gently shaking the two bottles in his hands, Chen Lin saw that the low-grade Gene Optimization Serum was sea blue, while the mid-grade serum was a verdant green, lush as jade and glossy as congealed fat, exuding an air of mystery.

Chen Lin sat cross-legged, uncorked a bottle of Gene Optimization Serum without hesitation, tilted his head back, and drained it.

The serum flowed into his mouth and down his throat, dissolving completely into Chen Lin's body.

Before long, pain surfaced in Chen Lin's expression, twisting his features.

The blue-green veins throughout his body throbbed. His whole body began to convulse, as if he were enduring unbearable pain.

"Argh!!"

At last, Chen Lin let out a scream. His clothes suddenly burst apart, sending scraps flying and revealing his true form.

A gigantic mantis nearly ten feet tall, its entire body translucent and emerald green, with strange red patterns winding around its head and abdomen.

Suddenly, the restless antennae atop Chen Lin's head stiffened. They twisted and shrank, then eerily dissolved into his head. At the same time, two pitch-black things like ox horns abruptly drilled out of Chen Lin's forehead, like a pair of sharp horns. Strange blue-green veins covered them, making them look grotesque and terrifying.

At the same time, his two scythes grew even larger and more curved. Their sharp blades were no longer green but had turned glossy black, with a metallic sheen. Red patterns wound across them like the soul-reaping scythes of the Grim Reaper.

Suddenly, as Chen Lin writhed in agony, he seemed to sense something. His spine began to itch unbearably. Beneath his skin, something alive squirmed incessantly, as if something were about to burst out of his body!