"Happy to Become a Father"

"Perhaps the increase in Psychic Energy was related to the scent emitted by the crystal," Chen Xu pondered.

More than half of the crystal had already turned blood-red. Several people on the altar could no longer maintain their posture from excessive blood loss and had collapsed to the ground.

The blood-red color grew increasingly intense. The high priest trembled all over in excitement, as though having an epileptic fit.

Lightning struck down, turning the dense forest atop the mountain into a sea of fire.

Thunder roared and lightning flashed, as if it would not rest until it had split the mountain apart.

The last believer within the altar fell, and the blood-red color completely covered the black crystal.

"It worked?" The high priest could not help swallowing as he shakily stepped onto the altar.

Just as he reached out to touch the blood-red crystal, it abruptly broke free from the stone slab and pierced through the high priest.

"Ahhhhhh..."

The aged voice was filled with endless agony.

In less than three seconds, the high priest was sucked dry into a mummified corpse and fell dead.

At the sight, the prayers did not cease. Instead, they grew even louder.

Their god had heard their hopes. They were about to enter their god's kingdom and follow in their god's footsteps forever.

Swish, swish, swish.

In fewer than thirty breaths, Chen Xu was the only one left standing at the very back.

"Still not full?" Chen Xu flung off his black robe. "You want Chen's blood? Come and see if you have what it takes!"

As if sensing Chen Xu's provocation, the blood-red crystal let out a soft hum. Its tip pointed directly at him before it shot forward.

"Ha!" His shout was like a thunderclap on flat ground. Chen Xu lunged out with a short blade in hand and slashed down heavily.

The short blade collided with the blood-red crystal, and its edge snapped at once.

The blood-red crystal accelerated again, trying to stab into Chen Xu's body, only to be firmly caught by his two large hands.

Chen Xu glanced at the panel without thinking and discovered that after grabbing the crystal, his Psychic Energy began shooting up wildly. Instantly, he felt invigorated.

After three minutes of deadlock, the crystal hummed again. It desperately needed blood to replenish itself; how could it afford to waste time here?

No longer intending to maintain the stalemate, it suddenly exerted force, trying to break free from Chen Xu's grasp. It planned to drink its fill of blood first, then come back and settle the score with him.

It tugged once, but could not move. It tugged again, but still could not break free.

It seemed to realize that something was wrong. If it could speak, it would probably have asked, "What's wrong with you? I was already planning to spare you for now. Can't you show me some respect?"

"You think you can come and go whenever you please?" Chen Xu gripped the crystal tightly. He had never seen such a precious treasure that delivered Psychic Energy straight to him. There was no way he would let go of such a top-tier power bank.

Sensing that the blood-red crystal's struggles were growing increasingly violent, Chen Xu decisively spent Psychic Energy to raise the Myriad Beasts Bronze Statue Art to the fourth level.

His strength increased once more, leaving the blood-red crystal with no chance of escape.

The blood-red color slowly faded, while Chen Xu's Psychic Energy rapidly rose in turn.

After he held it tightly for five minutes, the crystal cracked apart. Chen Xu's body stiffened, as though he had fallen into some illusion.

Within the scene, he experienced the fragmented memories of a female Martial Dao powerhouse. She had grown from a girl in some unknown mountain village into a great figure of the demonic path during the Great Qi dynasty.

In one memory, when the demonic path launched a massive assault against the dynasty in an attempt to overthrow it, Chen Xu even saw the old man who had taught the Blood Rushing Nine Apertures Breakthrough Method.

He held a scroll as he stood beside a figure clad in dragon robes.

The scene shifted. The woman was already frail with age, seated cross-legged as two transparent crystals floated above a great cauldron.

Blazing flames rose as countless items Chen Xu could not identify were tossed one after another into the cauldron, burning the crystals.

At last, the old woman removed her clothes and leaped into the cauldron full of raging flames.

As time passed, the two crystals gradually changed. One was black as ink, while the other was entirely emerald-green.

The illusion faded. Chen Xu slowly opened his eyes, and amid despairing wails, the crystal shattered completely.

From those fragmented memory pieces, Chen Xu now understood the crystal's purpose.

That great figure of the demonic path had used a method completely beyond his comprehension to divide her memories and cultivation into two parts. If it absorbed enough blood, she could successfully live another life.

Then, after retrieving what was preserved within the other crystal, she might regain her peak strength in only a few years.

Unfortunately, Chen Xu's interference had turned everything into a fleeting dream.

As fragments filled the air, Chen Xu vaguely heard a cry of despair.

The only thing that puzzled him was that, judging from the few times she had acted in those memories, calling her a walking nuclear bomb would not have been an exaggeration. Why had such a flourishing Martial Dao civilization slowly vanished into the dust of history?

From Great Zhao's fragmentation to Great Abyss's unification, what had happened during those several centuries of chaos?

There was no point dwelling on it. Chen Xu turned to leave the cave, only to suddenly feel moisture in his palm.

At some point, a thumb-sized Meatball had curled up in his palm.

The Meatball seemed to be some sort of facial feature. It extended a tiny tongue and licked at the crystal fragments.

With every lick, the Meatball changed slightly. By the time it had licked every fragment clean from Chen Xu's palm, distinct facial features had emerged, bearing some resemblance to the great figure of the demonic path in her youth.

Soon, after discovering that there were no more fragments in Chen Xu's palm, the Meatball rolled out of his hand on its own and bounced across the ground.

Even while bouncing, it remained restless. Its tongue stretched desperately outward, and whenever it touched a fragment floating through the air, it snapped back like lightning and swept it into its mouth.

Like this, through endless repetition, her features became more defined, limbs emerged, and she eventually transformed into a finger-sized little girl around five or six years old.

She slowly opened her tightly shut eyes and cautiously looked from side to side.

When she saw Chen Xu, her eyes *******... "Da... Daddy."

She suddenly sprang up from the ground and ran toward Chen Xu. She occasionally stumbled and fell, but quickly climbed back up again.

"What the hell?" Chen Xu's expression changed slightly. He erupted with full strength and threw a punch without hesitation.

His casserole-sized fist landed squarely on the little girl transformed from the Meatball, yet Chen Xu did not feel flesh bursting apart.

The little girl lay in the crater with her limbs spread wide.

She suddenly sat up, bit her finger, and giggled before running toward Chen Xu again.

Chen Xu inexplicably felt that she had taken his attack just now as a game.

What alarmed him greatly was that his full-force strike had failed to leave even the slightest mark on the little girl's body.

The little girl grabbed hold of his trouser leg and quickly climbed up him.

The little girl grabbed his pant leg and rapidly climbed up his body.

When she tried to climb onto his face, Chen Xu caught her with one hand.

"Da... Daddy." The little girl stretched out both hands and called out again in her childish voice.

Chen Xu had somehow gained a finger-sized daughter, but he felt none of the joy of unexpectedly becoming a father. Anyone who suddenly acquired an Anomaly of a daughter probably would not be happy about it.

With a whoosh, Chen Xu flung the little girl far away and turned to sprint off. Whoever wanted this thing could take it. He certainly did not.