Chapter 180: Chapter 175: Son of Taotie
The bonfire had died out, leaving only the picked-clean skeleton of the Giant Wild Boar. The students all leaned against the surrounding tree trunks, gazing at the vast, starry sky and quietly savoring the tranquility that followed their life-and-death ordeal.
Mu Bingling and Mo Qing were whispering to each other. Di Cang, Lingyun, and Wu Kui had left after the al, giving the students space to relax without feeling constrained.
Mu Chen, however, wore a troubled expression. Just a mont ago, he had distinctly felt a loud THUD from his chest, followed by an imnse surge of power flooding his entire body. The Power Seal had shattered. Mu Chen was in a predicant once again. The power was too great—so great that if he couldn’t control it, not only would he be unable to display his usual level of combat prowess, but even his daily life would be severely affected.
’I’ll just have to seal it again.’
Mu Chen closed his eyes and sat down cross-legged on the spot. He skillfully perford a series of sealing Hand Techniques. Before long, the power in his body once again coalesced into streams of red energy that rushed toward his chest, finally forming a crimson vortex that was sealed within the red insignia there.
But as soon as he finished, the crimson vortex began to frantically batter against the Seal. This ti, the force of the impact was clearly several tis stronger than before. At this rate, the sealed power would break free and surge back into his body in less than an hour.
’How can this be?’
Mu Chen rubbed his temples. The sudden breakthrough had granted him imnse strength, but it had also brought him considerable trouble. He was now worried he might rip the handle off just by opening his dorm room door.
What Mu Chen didn’t know, however, was that Little Tiger had been watching him intently the entire ti he was sealing his power. Although he was just minding his own business eating Giant Wild Boar at, seeming simple-minded and unobservant, he always kept a special eye on Mu Chen. This young man, who seed so reliable and inspired such trust at first sight, was his big brother. He was the big brother who cared for him, cherished him, and even protected him! He idolized him more than anyone else!
Little Tiger himself possessed Innate Divine Power, so he could deeply empathize with Mu Chen’s current struggle. Every ti his Martial Artist Realm advanced, his strength would multiply, and each power surge brought imnse disruption to his daily life. He understood what Mu Chen was going through.
Without the slightest hesitation, Little Tiger wiped the grease from his hands on his pant leg and pulled a pendant out from under his shirt. It was incredibly plain, looking like a rusty iron chain dangling a yellowish clod of dirt. It was utterly ugly.
But as Little Tiger gazed at the pendant, his eyes filled with tenderness, warmth, and longing—an outpouring of the purest, most intimate affection. No one was paying attention to him at that mont, so of course, no one could see the story locked away in the honest-looking boy’s heart.
’Mom... you said that when Little Tiger found a brother he could entrust his life and death to, he could share the power in this pendant with him. Little Tiger wants to tell you now... Little Tiger has found him. Can you hear ? Little Tiger... I really, really miss you!’
SWOOSH...
A teor streaked across the sky. For a brief mont, its light illuminated the students’ faces, freezing their expressions in ti. While the others clasped their hands together and made wishes with smiles, Little Tiger alone stared blankly at the sky. A glimr shone in the corner of his eye as a single tear traced a path down his cheek, like the star that had just crossed the heavens...
(Behind every stubborn and strong person, there is an untold story...)
Wiping the corner of his eye, Little Tiger gently touched the dirt-like pendant. A faint yellow glow flickered for a mont before vanishing without a trace. The next second, Little Tiger had already tucked the plain pendant back into his clothes. At the sa ti, an earth-yellow Scroll had appeared in his hand. The Scroll emitted no Primordial Power fluctuations, but it was wrapped in a strip of parchnt covered in Sealing Clauses written in Ancient Literature. One glance was enough to tell it was an ancient Scroll.
Without attracting anyone’s attention, Little Tiger quickly walked over to Mu Chen’s side. He handed him the Scroll and whispered, "Brother Mu Chen, this Scroll might be able to solve your current problem."
Mu Chen looked quizzically at the Scroll Little Tiger was offering. "Little Tiger, what is this Scroll?" he asked.
"A Power Seal... uh... Combat Skill," Little Tiger mumbled.
"Don’t tell
it’s the sa as those Power Shackles on your chest," Mu Chen couldn’t help but smile, ruffling Little Tiger’s hair. He had always seen Little Tiger as a younger brother, not just because of his personality, but also because of the yearning for familial affection he sotis showed.
"No! I haven’t t the requirents to use this Combat Skill yet, so I’ve just been carrying it around. Now that you’re in trouble, Brother Mu Chen, this Power Seal Combat Skill should solve your problem." Little Tiger’s expression was exceptionally resolute.
Seeing Little Tiger’s earnest expression, Mu Chen paused for a mont before accepting the Scroll. His eyes imdiately fell on the strip of Ancient Literature wrapped around it. "This Scroll must be ancient," he said to Little Tiger. "It’s no ordinary Combat Skill."
"You’re amazing, Brother Mu Chen," Little Tiger said, surprised. "It’s a Scroll that’s been passed down in my tribe. It’s really powerful, that’s for sure."
Mu Chen nodded and looked at Little Tiger, gratified. "Thank you. By the way, Little Tiger, how co you’re saying ’I’ instead of ’this one’?"
Little Tiger scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "You all say ’I,’ and this one felt awkward being the only one saying it, so I changed."
"Haha, that’s true. But I’m so used to it now that hearing you say ’I’ feels a little strange."
"Really? Then this one will just keep using ’this one’!"
"Now that’s the Little Tiger I know."
...
Laughing and chatting, they saw the ti was already approaching midnight. Having just returned from the Demon Beast Prison, none of them had rested yet. Though exhausted, they had planned to stay up until dawn, but Mu Chen, acting as class president, shooed them all back to their dorms. Mo Qing had wanted Mu Bingling to stay the night with her, but Bingling refused, saying, "We’ll be together eventually, so a day or two doesn’t matter. It’s best not to give anyone an excuse to stir up trouble."
Mu Chen could only remain curious about this; he had no idea when the two won had beco so intimate. In the end, though, he didn’t open the Scroll Little Tiger had given him. For so reason, he had a feeling that the seemingly plain Scroll was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
Back in the dormitory, everyone was already fast asleep. Mu Chen gently placed the slumbering Snow Qilin from his arms on the left side of the bed, covered it with Snow Floss, then sat on the other side and took out the ancient-looking Scroll from Little Tiger.
First, there was the strip with the Sealing Clauses written in Ancient Literature. It had been too dark outside, and he had been busy talking with Little Tiger, so he hadn’t had a chance to decipher the ancient script. But now, by the light of a lamp, Mu Chen quickly made out the words.
"’Beast King Race—Power Sealing Secret Technique,’ he read. ’This... it’s a Secret Technique!’"
Mu Chen gasped. He instantly understood why Little Tiger had mumbled about it being a "Power Seal Combat Skill." A faint smile touched his lips as he whispered, "Silly kid, you’ll always be a silly kid. You were afraid I’d refuse it if I knew it was a Secret Technique, weren’t you?"
Gently undoing the strip with the Sealing Clauses, Mu Chen carefully unrolled the Scroll. He did so not just for any reason, but because the Scroll was clearly ancient. He was afraid his poor control over his own strength might cause him to accidentally destroy the Secret Technique.
Before long, the full contents of the Scroll were revealed. To Mu Chen’s imnse surprise, every single character was written in Ancient Literature. Had it been anyone else his age, they would not have been able to understand a single word.
Fortunately, Mu Chen had loved studying such things since he was a child. His ability to decipher the script of Ancient Literature was even better than that of so old masters. As a result, he quite enjoyed deciphering books and Scrolls written in the ancient tongue.
After so careful study, the contents of the Scroll took shape in his mind. Although so characters were too obscure for him to decipher directly, he could infer their aning from the surrounding text. At last, Mu Chen was able to translate the Secret Technique in its entirety.
The contents were simple, but the creator of this Secret Technique was anything but. The writing at the beginning of the Scroll had nothing to do with the technique itself, but rather chronicled the creator’s reasons for making it. His na was known to posterity as the Son of Taotie. And what was a Taotie? It was an Ancient Fierce Beast! It was famous not just for its voracious appetite, but critically, for its Innate Divine Power, which held Heaven-shaking might, putting it nearly on par with Divine Beasts like the Cyan Dragon and the White Tiger.
The Son of Taotie was a Beastman who had awakened his Taotie Bloodline. He had completely inherited the Taotie’s power and voracious appetite. However, because he was a Beastman and not in the form of a Magical Beast, he was unable to control his strength in daily life and often ended up hurting his nearest and dearest.
At first, he paid it no mind, believing great power was proof of might, and so he continued to live as he pleased. Then one day, the wife of the Son of Taotie gave birth to his son. It should be known that the Taotie as a species is infertile. But because the Son of Taotie was a Beastman, not a true Taotie, he retained a minuscule sliver of reproductive ability, allowing his bloodline to be passed down. Even so, the chance of conception was one in a trillion. One can only imagine how ecstatic the Son of Taotie was to finally see his own son.
But in his mont of excitent, he was completely unable to control his strength. As he held his son, he crushed the infant to death in his arms. In that instant, the Son of Taotie went berserk. Having lost all reason, he could not contain his rage and brutally slaughtered every last mber of his own tribe. Not a single soul survived. It was a world of crimson. The entire settlent was strewn with corpses, rivers of blood flowed, and ruin lay everywhere. The cause of it all was that Beastman, a man who had beco like a god of slaughter.
Only when a cold rain began to fall from the sky, washing the blood from the ground, did the Son of Taotie slowly erge from his berserk state—his Awakening. Upon seeing his ruined ho and the bodies of his people strewn across the ground, he finally rembered what had happened. While a Beastman loses all reason when berserk, their mory of that period skyrockets to a terrifying degree. The fragnted, blood-soaked images tornted the Son of Taotie day and night.
To atone for his sins and repent for his transgression, the Son of Taotie cut off both his legs and his right arm, leaving only his left to accompany him. He had considered suicide, but he knew he would not be the only person to ever awaken the Taotie Bloodline. If soone in a future generation activated it, the sa tragedy would befall them. Filled with a profound sense of guilt, the Son of Taotie made a decision. He would create a Secret Technique—a technique that could seal away boundless power! A Secret Technique that would allow his kinsn who awakened the Taotie Bloodline to live ordinary lives!
Reviews
All reviews (0)