Mutation

Thrown into the Lower Dantian like a piece of trash by the Seven-Colored Essence, the Death Force was still in a daze.

Carried by the momentum of the throw, it drifted unsteadily and unthinkingly toward the calm, blue-gold Life Force at the center of the dantian.

When that drop of ink representing "death" touched the energy brimming with "life," the expected annihilation did not occur. Instead, it triggered a violent reaction.

Life and death opposed each other like water and fire, though their true nature was far more complex and profound.

Water could put out fire, certainly. But pour a small cup of it onto a raging blaze, and it might feed the flames instead.

At extreme temperatures, water split into two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. Hydrogen burned, while oxygen fueled combustion. The result: water made the fire burn even hotter!

Something similar was now happening inside Lin Hai, only this meeting of water and fire took place between energies.

When the faint Death Force touched the vast Life Energy—

Hiss!

A sound exploded within Lin Hai's dantian, heard not by his ears but directly through his perception of energy!

Driven by instinct, the Death Force tried to corrode, taint, and break down the vitality before it. The Life Force reacted like a lion whose territory had been invaded. Blue-gold light flared as it tried to purify and erase that ominous trace of "death" through sheer volume and power.

The two utterly opposed energies fought a silent but ferocious battle at the heart of Lin Hai's dantian. They clashed, tangled, and annihilated each other, sending chaotic currents of energy surging outward.

Though the Death Force was small in quantity, its origins in a dimensional Demon God seemed to give it an uncanny resilience and corrosive power. Like a