Source Blood and... Contractee!

Chapter 5: Source Blood and... Contractee!

A thick, foul stench swept over him. After a dizzying spin, Chen Lin came to.

He glanced around and smiled bitterly to himself. This time, he was probably doomed. He was inside the giant serpent's belly. If there was anything to be grateful for, it was that the serpent didn't seem inclined to savor its meal. Instead, it had swallowed all the vicious beasts whole, like gulping down dates. That gave every creature it had devoured a little more time to live.

Powerful vicious beasts and birds of prey surrounded Chen Lin. After a brief moment of panic and confusion, they all sensed that their lives were in danger and began to struggle in desperation. But whether they clawed or tore at their surroundings, it was obviously futile. The giant serpent's internal organs had been tempered to be incomparably tough, and its powerful gastric juices were corrosive enough to dissolve and digest living creatures in no time.

Ahead of him, one powerful beast and bird of prey after another shrieked as the gastric juices secreted by the giant serpent ate away at them until they died. The only thing Chen Lin could pray for now was that they would die slowly, so he could survive a little longer.

But that prayer clearly did little good. The giant serpent's gastric juices were simply too potent; the moment they touched a living creature, they corroded it away.

Wisps of black gas rose from the bodies of the dead creatures. Perhaps because the creatures here were exceptionally powerful, the black gas was much thicker than usual. It quickly gathered toward Chen Lin's body, but he had no time to care about that. His thoughts raced as he tried to find a way to escape. He wouldn't give up easily until the very last moment.

"Death Energy absorption has reached the required threshold. Main God Inheritance Coffin automatically awakening..."

"Main God Inheritance Coffin beginning contract..."

"Scanning contractee information..."

As despair clouded Chen Lin's heart, a mechanical, numb, icy voice suddenly rang out. He shuddered and warily looked around, but couldn't find where it had come from. He wondered if he was hearing things.

"Contractee race: Demon Race. Bloodline level: Mortal tier. Innate divine ability: None. Potential: Inferior."

The voice sounded again. Chen Lin's pupils contracted. He suddenly realized that it seemed to have appeared out of nowhere inside his mind. The next moment, he saw a mysterious, ancient coffin bobbing up and down within his mind, radiating a faint, enigmatic aura. The sensation of looking inward was indescribably wondrous.

This was... that mysterious coffin!

Chen Lin's mind jolted. He stared at the coffin in astonishment. It was exactly like the one he had seized during his mission, only now it was several times smaller and existed inside his mind.

His thoughts surged in every direction, but before he could sort them out, the icy voice spoke again.

"Warning: Contractee does not meet the minimum requirements for Main God inheritance."

"Recommendation: Forcefully eliminate and search for the next host."

"Executing command. Eliminating..."

Inside his mind, the mysterious coffin suddenly emitted a jet-black light, while wisps of black gas curled around it. Chen Lin shuddered. He recognized the gas: it was the strange black energy he had absorbed when he killed vicious beasts. He hadn't known where it went, but now he understood that it had all been absorbed by the mysterious coffin.

Before he could think any further, a tearing pain suddenly struck. The coffin's surface blazed with mysterious, eerie runes. The entire coffin began to tremble, as if struggling to rise and force its way out of Chen Lin's mind.

"Argh!!"

Chen Lin howled inwardly. His whole head felt as though it were about to explode. The violent pain crashed over him like a mountain-swelling sea, threatening to swallow him completely.

Chen Lin hadn't expected to escape death in the giant serpent's gastric juices only to die early at the hands of this damned coffin.

Realizing that death was unavoidable, Chen Lin nearly gave up resisting altogether.

"Hum~!"

Just then, a sudden change occurred!

A frigid, icy aura erupted inside Chen Lin's mind. Even through the searing pain, he couldn't stop himself from shivering. It was as if his very thoughts froze in an instant.

Hum, hum, hum!

Inside Chen Lin's mind, a drop of blood, magnified several times, radiated a strange, vivid scarlet, alluring and dripping with color, yet utterly bizarre! A cold, lifeless aura spread from it, and his sea of qi grew as frigid as the netherworld.

The blood radiated a cold, sinister aura. The moment Chen Lin's mind drew near, he shivered!

"This is... Source Blood?!"

Drawn by the aura emanating from the Source Blood, the mysterious coffin gradually stopped struggling. It turned slowly, as if hesitating over something, while the pain in Chen Lin's mind slowly receded, giving him a brief chance to catch his breath.

Chen Lin stared at the mysterious drop of Source Blood, still full of uncertainty, but unable to do anything.

As if pulled by some unseen force, the Source Blood floated up and down before suddenly flying out of Chen Lin's body. It began to turn slowly, then faster and faster. Threads of dark-red blood, fine as silk, gathered toward it. As time passed, the dark-red blood grew more plentiful and thicker.

Outside, the giant serpent, which had swallowed so many vicious beasts, suddenly shuddered. A humanlike look of terror and unease appeared in its huge, scarlet eyes. It suddenly felt its blood stirring beyond its control, then streaming toward some unknown place. Its blood rapidly dried up and vanished!

No matter how hard it tried to control it, its blood seemed to disappear of its own accord, beyond its control!

A shrill scream burst from the giant serpent's mouth. Its whole body curled up, then it could bear it no longer and began thrashing through the marsh. Its body churned through the mud, crushing and snapping countless giant trees and vines in an instant, leaving devastation in its wake.

Even Chen Lin, trapped inside it, could hear the giant serpent's screams.

Chen Lin gazed at the Source Blood suspended in midair. It was like a bottomless pit, greedily devouring the giant serpent's blood...

"What... what kind of devilish thing is this?!"

Chen Lin's feelings shifted between doubt and dread. This bizarre phenomenon left him uneasy, yet he couldn't stop it. He knew very little about Source Blood. In his previous life, it had circulated only overseas and was extremely rare. Every drop that appeared stirred up a violent frenzy and sparked countless people's attempts to seize it, but in the end, mysterious foreign lineages always took it back.

"Chit, chit."

After a long while, as if it had absorbed enough blood, the Source Blood began to writhe. It condensed into a blood-red seed the size of a soybean, quickly merged into Chen Lin's body, and vanished in an instant.

"Phew!"

In that instant, Chen Lin felt all the blood in his body begin to stir!

"What... is going on?"

His blood roiled and churned, yet Chen Lin couldn't feel the slightest warmth. All he felt was an endless, icy chill rushing over him!

As if he had fallen into a demonic abyss, his soul was about to freeze—cold and despairing! As if he were inside an icy cavern and a frigid pool, the cold seeped into his bones, chilling him to the core!

The sinister, icy aura filled every drop of blood and coursed through his entire body! His blood roiled, his thoughts grew confused, and his mind began to falter. In an instant, he teetered on the brink of collapse!

Chen Lin hurriedly steadied his mind and guarded his thoughts, clinging to his last shred of clarity.

After who knew how long, the sinister aura in his blood finally began to recede.

"Warning, warning. The contractee has undergone an irreversible change. The system will reassess..."

The cold, mechanical voice rang out once more.

"Scanning contractee information..."

"Contractee race: Demon Race. Bloodline level: Mortal tier (mutated, can evolve). Innate divine ability: Blood Absorption Healing. Potential: Unpredictable."

"Contractee meets the requirements for Main God inheritance. Inheritance commencing."

"Main God Inheritance Coffin automatically binding to host."

The next moment, Chen Lin's consciousness returned to his body. He abruptly opened his eyes, and an almost imperceptible flash of crimson flickered through them before vanishing. It was as if he had just dreamed it all, but he quickly came to his senses.

He glanced around. The space inside the giant serpent was completely empty; the flesh inside it had long since disappeared. Only its fragile bones and limp skin remained, pressed close around him.

Chen Lin found it hard to breathe. With no time to think, he swung his forelimb scythe and struck. The serpent's skin was now as brittle as if it had been dried in the sun for years, utterly devoid of moisture. Chen Lin easily ripped a gash through it.

Suddenly, Chen Lin froze. He stared at his forelimb. Its color was no longer pure emerald green; now, numerous blood-red markings coiled around the scythe, making it look all the more eerie and razor-sharp. Had it... evolved?

Chen Lin swung his great blade with all his strength. It whooshed through the air, leaving afterimages and making the air crackle with each slash.

A sense of rebirth and strength welled up from within him.

This was... the strength of the mid-stage Houtian realm?!

Chen Lin was aghast. In less than an hour, he had gone from an insignificant vicious beast to entering the world of martial cultivation!

Although he didn't know how vicious beasts' strength was classified, Chen Lin could clearly feel the change in his own power and judge his level!

In his previous life on Earth, even the Houtian realm made one a top-tier expert. Chen Lin himself had only reached the Houtian peak; he had been just one step away from entering the Xiantian realm!