NOVEL NEXT Chapter 20 - Mutation, Suppression!
Chapter 20: Mutation, Suppression!
Li Chang’an came inexplicably and left just as inexplicably.
He returned to the rest room, where Wen Miaohua was still playing with Snowball.
“Did your uncle let you go so quickly?”
As soon as Snowball saw Li Chang’an, it immediately snuggled into Wen Miaohua’s palm.
Li Chang’an shook the box in his hand and said, “He just gave me this.”
Wen Miaohua looked over curiously.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. I’ll find out when I open it.”
Li Chang’an sat back on the stool and opened the box Li Mingxuan had given him.
Inside, a crystal shard glowing with a seven-colored light lay quietly in the center, with a piece of paper tucked beside it.
When Wen Miaohua saw the crystal shard, a look of understanding appeared on her face.
“Chang’an, is your beast space very large?”
Li Chang’an opened the piece of paper without looking up. “Yes, 500 cubic meters.”
The girl’s moist lips parted slightly as she took a few quick breaths, then fell silent. “This is a fragment of a Life Crystal. It contains pure life energy and a trace of spatial energy. It’s perfect for beastmasters to accumulate curse power and stabilize their beast space.”
Combining the note and Wen Miaohua’s explanation, Li Chang’an confirmed that this was indeed a Life Crystal fragment.
“So, this is why I never heard of it before?”
Wen Miaohua explained, “First, Life Crystals are extremely rare. They can only be mined in a few veins in Donghuang Country or deep within life-forbidden zones.”
“Second, Life Crystals were originally meant to assist king-level beastmasters in their cultivation. They’re not suitable for beastmasters at levels 1 to 9.”
“Even as fragments, only geniuses with larger initial beast spaces can use them. Ordinary people risk exploding their beast spaces if they try.”
A hint of realization flashed in Li Chang’an’s eyes. No wonder Li Mingxuan hadn’t given him this before.
There were strict requirements regarding beast space.
As soon as Li Chang’an’s fingertip touched the surface of the Life Crystal fragment, a pulling force emerged from the depths of his soul.
The bloodthorn emblem of the Hunting Notebook appeared, and in an instant, the Life Crystal fragment at his fingertip turned to dust.
A rich surge of life energy flowed through his body and into the Hunting Notebook.
Li Chang’an could clearly sense the Hunting Notebook’s growing desire.
“Kill that girl. She has more on her!”
The darkness in Li Chang’an’s eyes grew colder. The more the Hunting Notebook tempted and urged him, the calmer his anger became.
What kind of thing dares to appear so blatantly? It has no finesse at all!
Indeed, the mysterious darkness of the Hunting Notebook had completely shattered in Li Chang’an’s eyes.
Not only had the Hunting Notebook stolen the life energy that belonged to him, but it also offered no benefits in return.
In one sentence—”It’s utterly useless!”
Li Chang’an’s lips moved slightly, and a shadow of dark red flames appeared around him.
As time passed, the flame shadows grew clearer, carving patterns of prison scales on his exposed skin.
A brown eye gradually transformed into a sky-blue dragon pupil.
A wild, furious, and ancient aura filled the rest room. Snowball let out a whimper and fainted gracefully in Wen Miaohua’s palm.
Wen Miaohua quickly recalled Snowball, and a frosty lotus bloomed behind her. A single horn appeared, isolating the surrounding aura from her.
“Xiao Bai, what’s happening to Chang’an?”
“Neigh! (He has killing intent toward you!)”
Wen Miaohua said firmly, “Impossible. Chang’an would never do that.”
“Neigh, neigh. (The killing intent is coming from within his body. He and that monster are busy suppressing it.)”
Wen Miaohua nodded. “I see.”
Xiao Bai: “…”
At this moment, the sleeping Yaoyao was also startled awake, but Wen Miaohua protected her.
In the beast space, Maomao released its battle form, and the Infernal Core within its body began to spin wildly.
The beast resonance soared to the 50% threshold, entering a state of deep resonance.
Crossing this threshold, the Prison Shadow ability hidden in Li Chang’an’s soul and Maomao’s Infernal Core began to resonate.
An intangible, profound force emerged, shattering the bloodthorn emblem on the Hunting Notebook.
The blood-colored patterns on the Hunting Notebook’s cover instantly dimmed, and it was forced to fall silent.
But this profound force wasn’t about to let it go. It seemed determined to make the Hunting Notebook pay for its insolence.
The Hunting Notebook let out an unwilling roar, like a mournful wail that chilled the soul.
Li Chang’an and Maomao’s beast resonance nearly broke under this piercing soul cry, but the profound force directly shattered all the blood-colored light on the Hunting Notebook.
A dim bloodthorn emblem floated out from the Hunting Notebook and imprinted itself on the star-carved array in the beast space.
In an instant, the star-carved array underwent a dramatic change.
Intricate patterns of thorns appeared around the edges of the array, and the star at the center shrank, now cradled by a bloodthorn flower at its core, like a shining pearl.
The star sword, representing the beastmaster’s level, transformed into a black crack, appearing above the star pearl, both divine and demonic.
The moment the star-carved array completed its transformation, Li Chang’an and Maomao released their beast resonance.
If not for the earlier physical enhancements, this deep resonance would have been enough to take Li Chang’an’s life.
“Is it over?”
Li Chang’an weakly slumped into the chair in the rest room, murmuring.
The aura filling the rest room gradually dissipated as the beast resonance ended.
Wen Miaohua, concerned, helped Li Chang’an up. “Are you okay?”
Li Chang’an waved his hand to indicate he was fine and apologized to Wen Miaohua. “I need some quiet. Please take care of Yaoyao for me.”
With that, he entered a state of deep meditation. Wen Miaohua and Yaoyao exchanged a glance, and Xiao Bai took over Maomao’s role, translating Li Chang’an’s words for Yaoyao.
Yaoyao, well-behaved, quietly rested on the chair next to Wen Miaohua, her gaze fixed on Li Chang’an.
As soon as Li Chang’an entered deep meditation, he began to restore his curse power.
The earlier outburst had not only battered his body but also nearly drained his curse power.
He needed to recover.
No wonder his beast space had expanded again after Maomao awakened its talent.
With the kind of power output he had just experienced, he truly wouldn’t have survived without the support of a 1000-cubic-meter beast space.
After restoring some curse power, Li Chang’an began to study the changes in his contract array.
The conclusion was that he found nothing unusual for now. The only discovery was that his ability to absorb life energy and refine curse power had become faster.
In other words, his cultivation talent had improved slightly.
Suppressing his excitement, Li Chang’an carefully probed the source of this mutation—the Hunting Notebook.
At this moment, the Hunting Notebook seemed like an ordinary book. The bloodthorn flower on its cover was dim, lacking its usual vibrancy.
When Li Chang’an opened the Hunting Notebook, the bloodthorn star-carved array emitted a beam of blood-colored light.
A piece of information appeared in his mind.
“Status change: from temporary holder to holder. The conditions for becoming the master have been halved. Activating five pages of functions will make you the true master of the Hunting Notebook.”
Such good fortune?
Li Chang’an was both surprised and suspicious. He didn’t quite believe in such windfalls.
“Then again, it’s not exactly a windfall. It’s the result of Maomao and I fighting tooth and nail.”
Because the Hunting Notebook had relinquished half of its emblem, the conditions for mastery had been revised.
At the same time, the Life Crystal fragment it had swallowed became the catalyst for activating the third page’s function.
The third function of the Hunting Notebook, “Chaos Blood Feast,” was activated!