Spiritual Infiltration

Gu Jianlin gasped for air, his heart still racing with lingering fear.

He never could have imagined that such a terrifying thing was hidden within that mass of soul energy.

If not for the fact that he had gained spirituality and restored the power of the Black Kirin, he would likely be dead by now.

The hospital room was deathly quiet, with only the evening breeze drifting in, sending a chill through his entire body.

"This is the person the Joker mentioned, the one who granted him a new life."

He whispered softly, "No, this shouldn't be a human."

Gu Jianlin took out his phone, opened a drawing app, and made a quick sketch.

He hadn't seen much clearly, yet he managed to draw a bizarre silhouette.

The face resembled both a dragon and a snake, with massive, blood-colored vertical pupils, a body bathed in molten lava, dark cyan scales, and a single leg!

"What kind of monster is this? Could it have escaped from the Kirin Immortal Palace?"

Gu Jianlin tried searching online, only to find one similar mythological creature.

—Kui!

The Classic of Mountains and Seas: Classic of the Great Wilderness East records: In the East Sea, there is a Flowing Wave Mountain, seven thousand miles into the sea. Upon it is a beast, shaped like an ox, with a dark body and no horns, possessing one leg. Whenever it enters or exits the water, there is wind and rain; its light is like the sun and moon, its voice like thunder. Its name is Kui.

Gu Jianlin's scalp tingled. If his guess was correct, this must be the Ancient God Race.

The true Ancient God Race.

Not a human like him who had inexplicably obtained the power of an Ancient God.

"Gu Ci'an, what on earth are you doing, getting involved with these things..."

Gu Jianlin's mind was in turmoil. Combining the existing clues, he arrived at two important deductions.

First, the old man's mental state was indeed abnormal; he had likely gone insane.

But the problem was, when the old man returned from the airport that day, he had acted quite normally, albeit a bit flustered.

He had shown no characteristics of a Fallen.

Second, there was definitely more than one Ancient God sleeping in the Kirin Immortal Palace.

Because behind the organization the Joker belonged to, there was an Ancient God!

The problem now was, with the trail gone cold, how was he supposed to continue the investigation?

Gu Jianlin's clearance level within the Ether Association was too low to access any information channels.

For now, all evidence pointed toward his father.

"So annoying."

Gu Jianlin looked out the window and let out a long sigh.

Deep in the night, the roar of traffic outside was incessant, and the footsteps of the duty nurse could be heard faintly in the hallway.

"For now, I can only raise my rank and status step by step to gain access to more clues. As long as the Kirin power isn't exposed, I can use the resources of the Ether Association to grow."

Gu Jianlin thought to himself, "The problem now is that the thing behind the Joker is a bit terrifying. And according to the Ether Association's deployment, how did this Li Changzhi find me? They have been watching me in the shadows; did the Ether Association not notice? No, there is definitely something wrong here."

If this matter wasn't resolved, a dark cloud would continue to hang over his head, leaving him extremely uneasy.

Gu Jianlin remained silent for a long time, then suddenly felt the Kirin deep within his consciousness begin to stir.

In the ethereal void, he seemed to hear a distant call from another world.

The voice was so illusory.

Yet so real.

It felt like a summons from a dream.

Gu Jianlin could clearly feel that the world he inhabited was twisting and collapsing, disintegrating inch by inch, covered in fissures.

Scarlet light spilled from the cracks, like a surging tide.

"Ancient Supreme..."

So that was it; it was those five people in the ancient tomb summoning him again.

Gu Jianlin heard that familiar call and suddenly froze.

Right, he still had the group of five in the ancient tomb.

What he couldn't investigate, he could let these five people investigate!

The shattered world reassembled, and the gaping fissures closed silently as the scarlet light receded.

Gu Jianlin traveled once more into the dark, deep ancient tomb, the cold and desolate aura swallowing him whole.

When his consciousness recovered from the brief trance, he was shocked to find himself lying in that Golden Coffin again, his body bound by pale burial shrouds and pitch-black chains resembling dragon bones, like a devil in a prison.

Having had the experience once before, he had already adapted.

What truly surprised him was that he had undergone Ancient God transformation once again!

Terrifying Kirin horns, hideous and fearsome bone protrusions, pitch-black dragon scales covering his entire body, and sharp, lethal claws.

However, this Ancient God transformation seemed to be merely superficial.

He had evolved the body of a Kirin, but the tearing sensation in his body had not disappeared.

Nor was his body filled with that god-like, wrathful power.

Ever since his Ancient God transformation in the school cafeteria, he had been in a cooldown period.

Moreover, during this cooldown, he couldn't use any supernatural abilities because he lacked spirituality.

He hadn't expected that upon entering the Kirin Immortal Palace, he would transform so easily.

This time, he didn't even lose consciousness, nor did he feel the pain of evolution.

"Wait."

Gu Jianlin suddenly perceived it, subconsciously sitting up, causing the chains on his body to clatter.

Even though his body remained very weak after the transformation, he could clearly perceive the chaotic and void-like life energy permeating the darkness, as deep and vast as the sea, and as thick as mist.

Compared to the life force within the Joker, there was a slight similarity, yet they were worlds apart!

If the former was but a drop of water in the ocean.

Then the latter was like a tsunami capable of devouring the world.

In both quality and quantity, there was an unimaginable gap, like that between a firefly and the bright moon.

This chaotic, void-like aura was like oxygen, permeating this tomb, omnipresent.

"No wonder, it really is a difference in rules. In the real world, one needs to borrow the distorted life force within a Fallen to complete the Ancient God transformation. But in the Kirin Immortal Palace, it's not needed at all, because it's everywhere here!"

Gu Jianlin finally understood. If he wasn't mistaken, transforming into an Ancient God in the Kirin Immortal Palace had no side effects.

Even if he exhausted his power, he would likely only drain his spirituality.

Unlike in reality, where he only had a dozen seconds before losing his combat capability and collapsing like a corpse.

Bathed in this aura, he could even feel the side effects of his previous transformation fading away!

The recovery speed was at least ten times faster than in the real world!

"In that case, after the next transformation, I can accelerate the cooldown in the Kirin Immortal Palace..."

This discovery pleasantly surprised him.

Because the next time he entered the Kirin Immortal Palace, Gu Jianlin would no longer be caught off guard as he had been before.

He would hold a trump card.

As long as he had sufficient spirituality, he could still let out a roar, using that strange syllable to shatter his enemies.

The weakness caused by using that strange syllable last time was only because he had too little spirituality; after all, he had just gained the qualifications for awakening and didn't even have a legacy path!

Of course, they were likely not enemies anymore.

He had great use for this group of five in the ancient tomb.

After all, Gu Jianlin already had a drop of Ancient God blood in his body.

It could be used entirely for trade.

Amidst a low, rumbling sound, the tomb gate opened once more, reflecting the silhouettes of the five people.

"Ancient Supreme."

The Mentor knelt on the ground, saying respectfully, "Thank you for your summons."

His four students followed suit, kneeling on the ground, pious and respectful: "Thank you for your summons."

These five were very cautious, their voices modulated, their bodies shrouded in hoods.

However, this time, Gu Jianlin was no longer the rookie who had just entered the supernatural world.

As a Zero-Rank Divine Priest, he possessed a passive ability: Life Perception!

In his unique world of perception, the rhythm of life was so clear.

The Mentor's life rhythm sounded like a sorrowful tune played on a decaying erhu, with sharp, discordant noises from snapping strings, giving the impression of a dying man struggling to survive.

The level of corruption was extremely intense.

Next, the states of the Butcher and the Book Elder were not much better; the former sounded like the muffled noise of something about to explode, while the latter was like the screeching of fingernails on a chalkboard.

As one of the two women in the team, the Sea Siren's level of corruption was quite low; her life rhythm was like a small stream flowing through a mountain ravine, though with a touch of murky, chaotic texture.

Finally, there was the Moon Maiden.

Gu Jianlin glanced at her unobtrusively, trying to listen to her life rhythm, but heard nothing at all.

He was momentarily stunned, as this was the first time he had encountered such a situation. After filtering out the life rhythms of the other four, the tomb was left in dead silence, with no sound at all.

The Fallen known as the Moon Maiden actually emitted no life fluctuations.

"Ever since I became an Ascender, Life Perception has never failed, not even with that master and apprentice in the junk shop; I could still feel a hollow, silent echo. Unless they were dead."

Gu Jianlin was somewhat surprised, as the girl kneeling opposite him clearly had breath and a heartbeat.

She was alive, not dead.

This was truly strange.

Gu Jianlin quietly withdrew his gaze, looking down at them from his position, a realization dawning on him.

Among these five, the Mentor was the most severely corrupted; his life rhythm was chaotic, as if he were barely holding on with medication; otherwise, he would likely have lost his mind or undergone distortion.

Next were the Butcher and the Book Elder, both hovering on the edge of losing control.

The Sea Siren was relatively safe, with a low level of corruption.

As for the Moon Maiden, she was the strangest.

Gu Jianlin guessed that she might have used some method to hide her life rhythm.

Interesting.

"I summoned you here, not to have you kneel."

Gu Jianlin was quite calm this time, saying indifferently, "Rise and speak."

In the silence, the Mentor signaled his four students to rise, answering respectfully: "Understood."

He kept his head low, secretly eyeing the Golden Coffin in the distance, the place where the god resided.

Compared to humans, Ancient Gods were taboo existences, like devils.

Throughout history, countless kings and generals had lost themselves in the face of evolution and power, meeting tragic ends.

The Mentor knew the danger of dealing with devils, but he had no path of retreat left.

He took a secret breath, thinking this was his last chance, and he had to seize it.

However, the behavior of this Ancient Supreme was becoming more and more like a human.

This made them feel increasingly terrified.

This was an Ancient Supreme, an existence considered supreme in all human history.

For tiny ants like them to be able to kneel before a god was already a supreme honor.

In terms of destiny, they could even be called the Children of the Plane.

They were among the top throughout history.

They had to hold onto this thigh tightly!