Zhang Ping sensed that something was off.
He looked down at his hands, and the next moment, they turned into pure water.
"..."
The tent suddenly fell silent. Liu Sishan's eyes widened as she watched Zhang Ping's entire body turn into a puddle of liquid.
About a minute later, she finally snapped out of it. With a serious expression, she walked over to the liquid, lightly dipped a finger into it, and frowned. "Pure water?"
At that moment, Zhang Ping's voice came from the liquid. "Sisi, you poked my stomach."
"Zhang Ping, you're still alive?" Liu Sishan withdrew her hand and asked in surprise.
"I think so, but my current state is a little strange. Give me a moment to get used to it."
The sensation was extremely peculiar. His body seemed to have become a single whole.
No.
It was more like his body had turned into a mass of water.
No, that wasn't quite right either.
How was he supposed to describe it?
In any case, there was no distinction between head, neck, torso, arms, legs, and so on. Yet he seemed able to form a head, neck, torso, arms, and legs at any time. He could even grow countless heads and become entirely made of heads.
This was a little difficult to control.
Zhang Ping tried hard to adapt. Slowly, he controlled himself into growing an arm, then grew another arm beside it.
No.
That was wrong.
He had grown them in the wrong place.
He first grew shoulders above the arms.
Liu Sishan stood nearby, watching Zhang Ping gradually return to a humanoid form.
Finally, half an hour later, Zhang Ping had completely recovered, though he was a humanoid made of water rather than a human.
Looking at the water-man Zhang Ping before her, Liu Sishan asked, "Zhang Ping, can you turn back?"
"I should be able to, but I haven't figured out the trick yet. Let me appraise myself first," Zhang Ping replied.
He raised his hand and immediately activated Appraisal Technique.
[Appraisal successful] [Summoned Beast: Zhang Ping] [Master: Zhang Ping] [Race: Human] [Potential: ??????] [Lifespan: 99] [Rank: Novice Awakened] [Level: 9] [Talents] [Contract Gem: Can consume stamina + Mental Strength to condense a Contract Gem. Once a target willingly accepts the Contract Gem, their life, soul, and consciousness will all be controlled by the summoner. At the same time, they will gain the summoner's potential and luck blessings. After taking it for the first time, further consumption will slightly increase their potential, with a 1% chance of awakening a new talent. Note: This talent ability was obtained by summoner Zhang Ping at the cost of overdrawing his intelligence, potential, and luck. Although it is powerful, it also possesses some tremendous flaw. Being overly ambitious does not seem to be a good thing.] [Absolute Command: You possess absolute dominion over summoned beasts. Your commands are absolutely impossible for summoned beasts to disobey.] [Absolute Obedience: You absolutely obey the summoner's commands. You will faithfully carry out the summoner's orders.] [Collector's Edition Appraisal Technique: Can appraise a target, with a 60% chance of obtaining information about the target. After the first successful appraisal, the success rate for subsequent appraisals of the same target will increase to 100%. Note: A talent ability born from the thirst for knowledge of summoned beast Zhang Ping and summoner Zhang Ping.] [Nethermist Nightwalker: Gains night vision. Presence is greatly reduced at night, movement speed greatly increases, and body weight decreases. Becomes completely invisible in shadows. When the body is shrouded in Nether Mist, presence is drastically reduced.] [Fire Eater: Can restore stamina by consuming flames, while converting surplus flames into Fire Element energy stored within the body. After releasing the energy, temporarily gains a flame-wreathed effect until the Fire Element energy is depleted. This ability will gradually increase the user's resistance to high temperatures. Note: Potential is only potential. Only when it is turned into strength does it become true power.] [Wind Whisperer: The wind will bring you all kinds of news, whether you want to know it or not. Note: There are no walls that can block the wind, nor secrets the wind does not know.] [Other-Eater: When consuming special items, there is a 10% chance of gaining a corresponding special physique. Note: Why does this child eat everything?] [Nethermist Body: Can absorb the fear of living creatures and transform it into controllable Nether Mist. Note: Your fear is my food!] [Pure Water Body: The body can transform into Pure Water Form. While in Pure Water Form, can absorb moisture to restore stamina and injuries.] ...
He really had gained another ability.
Zhang Ping closed the status panel, feeling that today was his lucky day.
Not only had his strength greatly improved overnight, but his abilities had also become far more well-rounded.
He was now fully confident that he could challenge opponents above his level. Forget Intermediate Awakened—even against High-Level Awakened and High-Tier Mutated Beasts, he felt he had a chance of winning.
"How is it? Can you change back?" Liu Sishan asked concernedly.
Zhang Ping's transformation had happened because of her. If he could only live in this neither-human-nor-ghost form from now on, she had a responsibility to help him recover, no matter the cost!
"Yes!"
Zhang Ping answered with a smile.
The ability description made it clear that his body could transform into Pure Water Form. That meant Pure Water Form could definitely revert as well.
He still needed to study how to revert, though. After all, he had gained this ability for no apparent reason. He did not even know whether it was an effect of the Contract Gem or Other-Eater.
"Nethermist Body, Pure Water Body..."
If Nethermist Body truly came from Other-Eater, then Pure Water Body most likely did too.
So far, most abilities granted by the Contract Gem were various "-ers": Nightwalker, Fire Eater, Wind Whisperer, Other-Eater. The abilities brought by Other-Eater, meanwhile, were all various "Bodies."
Zhang Ping silently guessed.
He did not dare say his guess was correct, since Appraisal Technique was an exception.
However, based on that theory, he believed Nethermist Body and Pure Water Body must have similarities. He tried concentrating and carefully sensing his body. Gradually, his body shifted toward a human form.
In the blink of an eye, he changed from a water-man back into a human.
"It worked!"
He opened his eyes, clenched his fists, and smiled happily.
Then he discovered that all his injuries had healed. His body was also perfectly clean, without a speck of dust.
"Put your clothes on first!" Liu Sishan threw Zhang Ping's change of clothes at him, then turned around and faced away from him.
Zhang Ping immediately felt awkward. He hurriedly put on his clothes, then realized he was sitting on his old clothes, which were covered in a layer of dust.
Did Pure Water Body repel impurities too?
As he wondered, he turned an arm into water and swept over the dust on the ground. Sure enough, it remained spotless.
"Keep eating the Salt Frost Fruit. Don't waste it."
Liu Sishan turned around and saw that one of Zhang Ping's arms was still in Pure Water Form. She spoke irritably.
She admitted that she was a little jealous.
Zhang Ping was growing far too quickly. Pure Water Form in particular was practically the ability of her dreams.
If she possessed Pure Water Form, her strength would increase by at least two hundred percent. Even against a Top-Tier Awakened, she would be confident of winning.
And this had only taken one night.
Sure enough, Zhang Ping's ability was Infinite Tier, not the Useless Tier identified by the school.
Infinite Tier was simply too powerful.
Possessing an Infinite Tier ability was practically the same as being destined to become powerful.
Just like the captain she respected most, Situ Shibai. Not only did he have a long lifespan, but his abilities were nearly all-purpose. He was like the stabilizing pillar of the entire team.
However, she did not envy others for having stronger abilities than her own.
Because Situ Shibai had once said that every Awakened desired power far more deeply than ordinary people. Every ability was a response to an Awakened's deepest longing, and the stronger the ability, the greater the price that had to be paid.
Some prices were clearly marked.
Others could neither be seen nor touched. Only when the moment came to pay would one understand: that was the price!
The night passed without incident.
Early the next morning, Zhang Ping was called awake by Liu Sishan.
The two came to an uninhabited valley. Zhang Ping ate a compressed energy bar and asked, "Sisi, what are we doing today?"
"First, we'll test your newly acquired abilities. Your strength has increased too quickly, and I'm not sure whether the plan I arranged before is still useful for you," Liu Sishan replied.
Zhang Ping's face immediately fell. Bitterly, he said, "Sisi, honestly, I don't think your arrangements were very useful. If I hadn't been lucky last night, that rabbit alone would've killed me."
"..."
Liu Sishan said nothing. She merely looked calmly at Zhang Ping.
The two remained silent.
Silent.
In the end, Zhang Ping raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine. Let's do it. Test away."
"Then let's begin."
Waterlight immediately swirled around Liu Sishan, and one water ball after another rapidly formed.
A Water Whip swept toward Zhang Ping. His body transformed into Pure Water Form, and without dodging or blocking, he took the Water Whip head-on. After the Water Whip merged into his body, Liu Sishan immediately felt that some of the water under her control had disappeared.
Sure enough... This ability perfectly counters mine!
Awakened, especially elemental Awakened, naturally countered one another.
When she had seen Zhang Ping's Pure Water Form last night, she had instinctively felt that her ordinary attacks would have difficulty threatening him.
Zhang Ping's body was entirely made of water, while the only water she could influence was the water under her own control. She could not influence water in nature or water created by other ability users.
Next, she tried attacking Zhang Ping with ice spikes and boiling water, but after a series of attacks, Zhang Ping was still completely unharmed.
Though Zhang Ping's screams were especially loud whenever he was struck by ice spikes or boiling water.
"Sisi, is that enough?" Zhang Ping asked weakly.
Pure Water Form was not invincible. Fire, lightning, ice, boiling water, and even fists could all injure him. It was merely that ordinary injuries could be healed by absorbing water molecules from the air, making it look as though he had not been injured.
But that restoration had its limits. Once those limits were exceeded, he could still be beaten to death.
Liu Sishan created a bubble of water around herself and said, "Now attack me. Let me see how strong your attacks are."
"Oh, oh, I like this one." Zhang Ping nodded repeatedly.
The instant he finished speaking, a Nethermist Flying Knife appeared an inch before Liu Sishan's brow, while the water bubble protecting her had already been pierced through.
Liu Sishan stared in shock at the flying knife hanging before her brow. It took her quite a while to recover.
If Zhang Ping had intended to kill her just now, she probably would not even have had time to react.
Although her carelessness had played a part, Nether Mist was simply too terrifying. If a High-Level Awakened let their guard down, they could very easily suffer a disastrous defeat before this ability.
"Sisi, why does a Nethermist Mutated Beast's ability deal damage beyond its rank?" Zhang Ping beckoned, and the Nethermist Flying Knife turned into black mist and returned to his hand. Then he asked.
Liu Sishan came back to her senses and answered, "Some scholars once speculated that Nethermist Mutated Beasts might be descendants of King-level Mutated Beasts. Because they inherited some trait from King-level Mutated Beasts, their abilities deal damage beyond their rank to anything below King-Level."
"King-Level?"
Zhang Ping could not help thinking of Prince Yue.
If Nethermist Mutated Beasts were truly so extraordinary because they possessed King Bloodline...
Then what about Prince Yue?
And what about the Moon King, who was himself a King-Level being?
Zhang Ping did not dare think any further. The more he thought about it, the more despairing he felt.
He did not even know whether Mingzhu City could still be saved.