Divine Transcendence

Chapter 34: Struggle

Yuan Ming seized the opportunity, gathered all his strength in his arm, and infused all his mana into the Green Fish Sword.

He leaped high into the air, abandoning hacking and instead using a stronger piercing ability to charge at the Single-Horned Viper.

The viper was currently entangled by the Blood Soul Vine and had no strength to deal with Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming’s long sword was not hindered at all and pierced directly into the viper’s right eye.

With a light sound of "PU" a large spray of blood splattered. The struggling Single-Horned Viper’s body suddenly straightened, then violently bounced up, throwing Yuan Ming down.

Immediately after, the viper’s body contracted and twisted, almost forming a ball. But it didn’t struggle for long before losing its strength and stopped moving.

After Yuan Ming climbed up, he immediately pounced again, stepping on the viper’s head with his foot and pulling out the Green Fish Sword.

He held the sword with both hands and randomly hacked at the viper’s chest, causing scales to fly and blood to splash.

He wasn’t venting his anger, but rather trying to find the viper’s heart as soon as possible to prevent the Blood Soul Vine from completely occupying it. Otherwise, it would probably possess the body and move again. At that time, his own condition would be in a bad state.

After a difficult hacking, Yuan Ming finally managed to chop open the viper’s chest and saw the still slightly beating heart, which was already covered in black threads.

Without any hesitation, Yuan Ming immediately thrust the sword, stabbing the viper’s heart into pieces in just three or four strikes.

After completing all of this, Yuan Ming finally breathed a sigh of relief and took out a blood storage pouch from his body, placing it on the wound to collect blood.

But just at this moment, another change occurred.

The Single-Horned Viper, which he thought was already dead, unexpectedly moved again. Dozens of thick black vines suddenly grew from the wounds on its body, binding Yuan Ming.

At this moment, Yuan Ming still had residual poison in his body and had consumed a lot of mana, so he couldn’t forcefully activate his blood and qi anymore. His eyes became somewhat blurry, his body lacked strength, and he almost lost his ability to resist.

Meanwhile, the head of the Single-Horned Viper lifted up again, still in the same posture as before, looking down.

But the remaining eye was completely red and no longer had the emotions similar to those of humans. Its gaze became dull and lifeless, apparently controlled by the Blood Soul Vine.

Yuan Ming was bound by the vines and brought in front of the viper’s head. It was then that he noticed a black lump in the hole where the Green Fish Sword had pierced the viper’s right eye, which was shrinking and squirming.

"It seems it doesn’t need to parasitize the heart..." Yuan Ming realized, but it was already too late.

The vines were slowly bringing him closer to the Single-Horned Viper’s blood-filled mouth. After struggling for a while, Yuan Ming inevitably fell into the fate of being swallowed by the serpent.

Yuan Ming’s eyes condensed, trying to regain clear vision, but he couldn’t do it. Even though he faced death and had no vitality, he still refused to give up.

A desperate struggle might bring a glimmer of hope, while giving up would undoubtedly lead to death!

The Nine Yuan Technique within his body crazily circulated, attempting to continue gathering mana so that he could have the strength to fight again. However, this last-ditch effort was ultimately ineffective.

The Single-Horned Viper’s mouth closed, swallowing Yuan Ming.

Just as the viper’s mouth was about to close, Yuan Ming’s eyes began to turn blood-red. A surge of ferocious and violent emotions, which didn’t belong to him, suddenly rushed into his mind.

In these emotions, there was anger, hatred, bloodlust, and many other emotions that Yuan Ming rejected. The only thing that coincided with his current emotions was unwillingness.

Unwilling to be defeated, unwilling to die, unwilling to give up.

In the next moment, Yuan Ming was almost overwhelmed by these complex emotions, almost losing his consciousness.

But at the critical moment, a warm flow surged from his arm, stabilizing his mind and allowing him to control the almost-mad emotions.

At the same time, Yuan Ming felt the White Ape Beast Skin on his body tighten. The connection with his bloodline became even stronger, and the stagnant blood and qi in his body suddenly boiled again.

Yuan Ming felt a burning sensation throughout his body as a large amount of blood and qi rushed towards his chest.

Then, his chest swelled, flesh and bones grew, and a pale golden arm abruptly broke through his chest, piercing through the vines that bound him. The five fingers, like knives, stabbed into the Single-Horned Viper’s right eye.

The golden arm grabbed the squirming black lump in the eye socket and clenched its fingers tightly.

With a light sound of "BANG" the black lump exploded, turning into powder.

Immediately after, the Single-Horned Viper’s body quickly withered and shrank, and the vines parasitizing it instantly withered, turning into ashes.

Yuan Ming regained his freedom and fell to the ground.

He quickly and amazedly examined the lone arm that appeared on his chest, even forgetting to collect blood.

The arm seemed no different from the ape arm, but it had a pale golden fur, making it look as if it had been grafted onto his white ape-like body, which was extremely discordant.

"Could it be that the White Ape Beast Skin still has room for evolution?" Yuan Ming was shocked and surprised.

With a thought, the golden ape arm retracted back into his chest.

He quickly touched his chest and found that everything was normal, with no changes at all.

After a moment of contemplation, Yuan Ming took out a blood storage pouch and collected blood. Then, he peeled off the Single-Horned Viper’s horn on its head before hastily leaving.

...

In the blink of an eye, several months had passed, and the Ten Thousand Mountains were already in the depths of winter.

The mountains were covered in snow, and everything was white.

During these months, Yuan Ming diligently cultivated and hunted fierce beasts to obtain blood. He gradually improved and exceeded the monthly quota, sometimes even delivering ten times the required amount.

Of course, he avoided using the transformation technique whenever possible.

Calculating, it had been less than a year and a half since he officially became a Beast Skin Slave, but he had already accumulated more than five hundred and seven units of blood.

Completing thousands of units within three years and becoming a named disciple of the Biro Cave before completely falling into the abyss was no longer an unattainable goal.

On this day, in the early morning.

Yuan Ming carried a thick deer leg on his shoulder and walked through the snowy forest step by step.

His skin was dark, his face rough, and from his appearance alone, he was no different from the people of Southern Frontier or even the wild tribes.

After the mountains were sealed off by winter snow, many bear-like and snake-like fierce beasts entered hibernation, and the activities of other fierce beasts were greatly reduced, making hunting more difficult than before.

Yuan Ming had left two days ago in the morning and only returned now. If he hadn’t been lucky enough to encounter a Black Horned Deer, he would have returned empty-handed.

As he passed through a pine forest, he suddenly heard some commotion up ahead, as if someone was fighting.

Yuan Ming instinctively wanted to detour and leave. Nowadays, besides hunting fierce beasts to accumulate points, he didn’t care about anything else. This was because as his cultivation increased, the backlash from the transformation technique became more severe.

Especially after growing the third golden ape arm, every time he used the transformation technique, the ferocious aura in his chest became stronger, and the bloodthirsty and violent emotions repeatedly assaulted his rationality.

Yuan Ming also didn’t know how long the incense burner hidden in his arm could suppress this backlash.

Just as he was about to detour, he suddenly heard a somewhat familiar voice: "You dogs from the Scorpion Dog Gang, if I wasn’t seriously injured, how dare you make a move against me with just the two of you?"

"Ha Gong?" Yuan Ming muttered.

Responding to this voice were a few sneers, scornful taunts, and the sound of a fight.

Yuan Ming sighed and put down the deer leg, quickly walking over.

Before he could reach them, a figure had already flown out from a large clump of bushes.

Yuan Ming quickly caught the person’s back, using his left foot as a pivot point to spin around, dissipating the force of impact and stabilizing the person in place.

Immediately after, two more people jumped out from behind the trees, each holding a sharp knife.

When they saw Yuan Ming, the two guys clearly hesitated for a moment. Then, one of them with a pointed face and monkey-like cheeks immediately shouted, "Who are you? Do you want to meddle in our business?"

The other person raised his knife and pointed it at Yuan Ming’s nose.

"Yuan Xiong?" Ha Gong’s face turned pale, and his forehead was covered in sweat as he exclaimed in surprise.

His clothes were soaked in blood, and there was an extremely exaggerated tear in his waist and abdomen. His arms also had several regular knife wounds, totaling more than ten.

"What happened to you? How did you end up like this?" Yuan Ming frowned.

"I..." Ha Gong couldn’t say a word and slumped down against Yuan Ming’s shoulder, passing out.

Seeing Ha Gong faint, Yuan Ming felt somewhat helpless.

"You two, why haven’t you left yet?" He looked up at the two people who were chasing after them and scolded.

"Do you want to die?" the guy with the pointed face and monkey-like cheeks shouted, then pounced at Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming’s eyes flashed, raised one hand, and softly chanted, "Rise!"

As soon as the words fell, a yellow halo of light shone from the ground. The guy with the pointed face and monkey-like cheeks let out a scream, and his foot had already been pierced by a sharp stone spike rising from the ground.

The other person quickly looked down at his feet and quickly retreated.

Yuan Ming also didn’t bother with them and carried Ha Gong on his shoulder, turning around and leaving.

Bringing back a living person, Yuan Ming naturally couldn’t return to his cave, so he had to go to a temporary shelter where he usually rested.

It was a dilapidated treehouse, apparently the residence of a previous Beast Skin Slave that had been abandoned for a long time. Yuan Ming tidied it up briefly, making it barely usable.

He brought Ha Gong into the treehouse and used some medicinal powder he had obtained to treat his injuries. Then, he went outside and made a bonfire, roasting the Black Horned Deer leg.