Chapter Thirty: The Starlight Clan

“Knock, knock, knock! Brother Shen, are you alright?” The sound of knocking came from outside; it was Zhang Jing, who had heard Shen Lie’s shout and was now asking out of concern, but she didn’t come in.

“It’s nothing, I’ll be fine in a bit!” Shen Lie replied calmly, then began to observe the changes in his body.

He soon realized that his physique had grown much stronger—not only were his muscles more compact, even his bones now seemed almost crystalline, and his blood shimmered faintly with traces of starlight. Under his inner gaze, he could see that his entire body had stepped beyond the boundaries of ordinary humanity.

This must be the effect of evolution, Shen Lie mused, yet he felt no fear. He had long since prepared himself for such changes; even if he were to become a “monster” like Xiao Gang or Ma Zhanlin, he would accept it, so long as he could gain power and retain his reason. Everything else was secondary.

One question remained in his heart, however: why hadn’t Xiao Gang consumed the entire white flower as soon as he acquired it? He had only taken a single petal before locking the rest in the safe. Had he not discovered the flower’s true effects?

After a moment’s thought, Shen Lie understood. Perhaps it was because of the Blood Boiling Art—without this technique, he himself wouldn’t have been able to absorb the energy within the petal. Xiao Gang, who certainly didn’t know this method, was lucky to have survived the explosive surge of power at all; there was no way he’d dare try a second dose.

With this realization, Shen Lie felt a weight lifted from his shoulders. His progress this time had been tremendous. Though he wasn’t yet sure what the newly lit vortex within him represented, it was likely a sign of advancement. He would test his newfound strength soon enough.

He stretched lightly, and his gaze fell upon the strange book lying beside him.

Now that Xiao Gang was dead, the book’s origins were a mystery. Yet from any angle, it was clearly no ordinary tome. Its material and durability were remarkable, and the cryptic script on its cover only heightened its air of mystery.

The motif on the cover was vivid—a single drop of scarlet blood seemed almost real, as though freshly spilled, and faintly, the scent of blood wafted from it.

“How uncanny. Could it really be that blood must be dripped onto the cover?” Shen Lie studied the image, recalling Xiao Gang’s own suspicions. Judging by the illustration, it did seem to suggest that blood should be dropped onto the blank space.

“Why not give it a try?” His curiosity was piqued; faced with such an enigmatic book, how could he not be interested?

“Let’s see what happens.” He picked up a fruit knife and made a small cut on his finger, squeezing out a drop of blood. He had no intention of arranging any kind of “altar” as Xiao Gang had; he simply wanted to see what would happen. Still, he suspected Xiao Gang had tried this step as well, so he didn’t hold out much hope.

A bright red drop of blood dripped from his fingertip, landing precisely on the blank area of the cover.

Something strange happened at once.

The moment the blood touched the book, it began to emit a faint glow. On the previously blank spot, a progress bar appeared, advancing slowly, bit by bit.

“What’s this?” Shen Lie was utterly astonished. He had never expected such a reaction and couldn’t help but feel a surge of anticipation.

The progress bar moved at a sluggish pace. Shen Lie watched, holding his breath, as it inched forward, but after reaching less than a tenth of the way, it stopped, and the book’s radiance faded.

“Is it that some condition hasn’t been met?” Shen Lie quickly realized that this progress bar was a verification mechanism; in other words, to inherit whatever the book contained, certain criteria had to be fulfilled. Apparently, he hadn’t met them.

If it was a verification tool, what could it be checking for? Since blood was required, it was likely related to bloodlines. The only thing he could think of was the talent unique to Awakened. All the Awakened he had encountered exhibited some degree of physical mutation, probably a result of altered bloodlines.

“So my bloodline isn’t compatible with the book’s requirements?” he muttered, a little unwilling, and squeezed out another drop of blood onto the book.

The reaction was exactly the same as before. Shen Lie had no choice but to accept it. He would have to find a linguist in the future to see if they could translate the text and perhaps find another solution.

Disappointed, he picked up the book and examined it, lamenting his luck. It was a pity—a book that seemed to be a martial arts manual, yet he couldn’t activate it. Xiao Gang had probably encountered the same problem, which was why he had created that half-baked altar, unable to let go of his obsession.

“Though I’m no saint, I could never bring myself to do something like that.” Whatever rituals Xiao Gang had attempted, Shen Lie knew for certain he could never go that far. With a sigh, he put the book away.

Finally, Shen Lie checked the leaf-shaped mark in his brow center. Seeing nothing unusual, he was about to get up, when his attention was drawn again to the droplet of liquid above the leaf mark.

“Could that also be blood? Can it come out?”

The dark red liquid was barely visible against the black mark, but it did look like a drop of blood. Feeling a sudden impulse, Shen Lie tried to will it out of his Niwan Palace.

Nothing happened.

“So much for wishful thinking,” he laughed wryly at himself. Even if it was blood, it couldn’t simply fly out of his head on command; there had to be an exit.

“An exit…?” A new possibility occurred to him. He decided to try one last time.

He took the book out again and placed it on the bed, then reopened the cut on his finger, letting a drop of blood hang suspended from his fingertip.

“Now, come out.”

The moment his will focused, the leaf-shaped mark in his brow gave a faint tremor, and the droplet fell from the “leaf.”

Guided by some unseen force, it traveled from the Niwan Palace, followed the flow of blood, and emerged at his wounded fingertip, where it merged with the drop of blood and fell together onto the blank space of the book.

In Shen Lie’s astonished gaze, the book on the bed suddenly blazed with light. The progress bar instantly filled to the brim, and then the entire book shattered into motes of light, which streamed through the wound at his fingertip and into his body.

Shen Lie felt a torrent of knowledge and images flooding his mind, just as he had when he absorbed those two drops of liquid in the underground palace. This time, however, the process lasted only three or four minutes before he regained clarity—and found new information imprinted in his mind.

The information had two parts: one was about the strange book, the other about the leaf-shaped mark in his brow.

As he had suspected, the book was indeed a martial arts manual—though here it was called a “skill book”—left behind by someone named Leo.

There was no information about Leo himself; the contents described a skill called “Hammer of World’s End.” At its highest level, it was said to possess apocalyptic power, but in its initial state, it was merely a rather powerful thunder-based skill.

To learn this skill, one had to possess a thunder-related innate talent. The stronger that talent, the greater the skill’s potential. In fact, without thunder talent, the skill book couldn’t even be activated—the progress bar on the cover was precisely a test of bloodline compatibility.

Once inherited, the skill book imparted the basic method for using the skill. As for upgrading it, that depended on the user’s level and insight.

That was all there was about the skill book. The rest of the information pertained to the leaf mark in his brow.

As it turned out, this leaf-shaped mark was quite literally a leaf—the life mark of the owner of the black blood he had found in the underground palace, a member of the Cloaked Ones. Their clan was called the Starlight Tribe, a people of extreme rarity. Every Starlight Tribesman possessed a single innate talent: replication.

Yes, replication—the ability to copy the innate abilities of others. Each drop of liquid on the leaf could replicate one talent, and the process could be repeated as many times as one could manifest a new drop and acquire the blood of the target.

Such a talent was simply heaven-defying! Shen Lie couldn’t help but wonder what kind of tribe the Starlight people were, that every one of them possessed so overwhelming a gift—if the conditions were right, they could have any ability they wished.

However, the information about the Starlight Tribe was incomplete, perhaps due to the mark being damaged when he acquired it. Not every ability could be replicated, and some special powers were beyond its reach. Moreover, the “Replication Liquid” on the leaf came in more colors than just dark red; there were higher, more advanced varieties.

No matter what, this talent was simply too powerful. Shen Lie stretched out his hand and focused; a faint arc of lightning danced at his fingertip. He was now a dual-talent Awakener, possessing both strength and thunder.