After drinking down the blood, Jiang Wuxin started foaming at the mouth, his body convulsing. Black miasma emanated from his abdomen, quickly spreading throughout his body and covering his entire skin. His flesh and blood began rotting. Amidst the rotten flesh, the blood in his body turned completely black.
Jiang Wuxin retched over and over again. He squeezed his throat, trying to vomit up the contents in his stomach, but it was too late. All that came out was black blood. His skin took on a black sheen as black blood vessels spread on the surface.
"Jiang Wuxin, Jiang Wuxin..." he whispered his name.
"Father, Mother, you said that life is a sea of hardships, but I didn’t believe you. I thought I could change my fate and have a perfect life. But you were right after all. It seems I’m the one who’s wrong. Only by being heartless and devoid of emotions can we escape from the sea of suffering. Only by indifference and being cold-blooded can we escape the pain.”
He struggled weakly and gradually sank into the swamp, finally disappearing. Silence pervaded, as if no one had ever been here.
An hour later, a black young man crawled out from the swamp, his body dirty, full of mud, and his face barely visible. He was none other than Jiang Wuxin.
However, his temperament seemed to have drastically changed. His death tribulation energy had disappeared, replaced with life tribulation energy instead. He was full of vitality, which meant he had passed from the death phase to the life phase.
It was merely a change in appearance. The change in his temperament was caused by the black blood circulating in his body. Jiang Wuxin’s flesh and blood possessed a tenacious vitality. He was both pale and black, and black blood vessels extended all over his body like a huge network.
Jiang Wuxin fell to his knees. Head lowered and his lips curled in a smile.
"So that’s how it is! I should’ve absorbed this black blood a long time ago.”
Clutching his forehead, he laughed like a madman.
"I’m so powerful! From now on, I have nothing to worry about. I am the master of my own destiny!”
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and slowly untied the cloth from around his eyes. His eyelashes trembled lightly when the cloth fell away. Raising his head, he turned and faced the direction of the hell tree on this level of the Nether Battlefield.
He opened his eyes. His pupils shook violently, like black beads being shaken in a glass.
Finally, his pupils fell into position. Jiang Wuxin had two pupils in each eye, one on the left and the other on the right, with only a small part overlapping. It made him look extremely weird.
“My turn,” Jiang Wuxin said.
...
In the swamp layer, next to the hell tree.
"I’m taking a break to cultivate. Call me if something comes up,” Tianming said to Xuanyuan Yucheng.
"Sure, you can go,” Xuanyuan Yucheng replied.
Tianming returned with Ying Huo and Meow Meow. Jumping onto Xian Xian’s Radix Word Tree, he sat on top of the petals of the Radiant Daffodil. The sensible Xian Xian turned the daffodil petals into the shape of a chair so he could sit comfortably.
"Half-daddy, I’ll give you a massage.” As soon as the words left Xian Xian’s lips, the branches, leaves, and vines began beating his back and kneading his legs, thoughtfully serving Tianming.
"What are you doing?” Tianming asked.
"I’m so hungry after fighting. I want to eat meat.” Its little spiritform appeared in front of him, clutching its belly and pitifully blinking its big eyes.
As soon as it spoke, tears pattered down.
"But the fight had nothing to do with you.” Tianming was dumbfounded.
"During the last fight, I lost a lot of arms and legs. They were all chopped off. Oh, poor me...." Xian Xian shook its arms.
"Didn’t you eat after the last fight?”
"I’m hungry again! Tianming, you meanie! Are you going to let me go hungry? You’re so cruel!” It sat down and started rolling all over the ground.
"Stop, I'll let you eat,” Tianming said with a headache.
"Awesome! Thank you, Half-daddy.” Xian Xian immediately jumped up, beaming with joy.
What a drama queen! After it had successfully guilt-tripped Tianming, he cooked up a delicious barbecue and it began eating delightedly. Watching the entire process, Meow Meow was struck with inspiration—it dashed toward Tianming and began rolling around and crying.
"What are you doing?”
"I’m sleepy and I want to sleep,” it said in a soft voice.
"Go away.”
"Meow?”
A dejected Meow Meow attracted the roaring laughter of Ying Huo and Lan Huang.
"Stop making a fuss. Come, I'm ready to enter the death phase,” said Tianming.
“Does that mean I can no longer sleep once you do?” Meow Meow said vigilantly. After all, the body aged a hundredfold, so one day of sleep would be equivalent to a hundred days of napping.
"Don't worry, you can sleep. You might as well prepare a coffin, you can sleep and fart all you want. In fact, you can sleep until you rise up to the heavens.” Ying Huo snickered.
"Dammit! I refuse!” Meow Meow looked depressed.
"Your refusal is invalid.”
"I’m going to cry!”
"Cry all you want. I’ll get Lan Huang to accompany you,” said Tianming.
"What? I can sing?” Hearing their conversation, Lan Huang immediately rushed over, its huge head slamming into Meow Meow’s face. "Cat Bro, I'm going to start singing!"
"Don't.... Oh shit! These loonies!”
Except for Xian Xian’s Radix World Tree, Tianming quickly tossed the beasts back into his lifebound space.
"Let's sing.... No, I mean let's enter the death phase!”
Meow Meow cried and howled in the lifebound space, rolling all over the ground. In the end, he was forced to enter symbiotic cultivation anyway.
"Farewell, my sleep. Starting today, I’m going to be a diligent cat,” Meow Meow said helplessly.
"Stop being so dramatic. Even aging a thousand times faster wouldn’t be able to stop you from sleeping.” Tianming could see through him.
"How dare you underestimate me! I’ll work so hard you’ll be ashamed of yourself....”
The more it talked, the quieter it became. Clearly, even Meow Meow doubted itself.
Tianming led them in symbiotic cultivation, using the death tribulation energy from his deathsprings to engulf the text on his tribulation rings. The last time they had merely touched, yet the force of death was so terrifying.
"Stop hesitating. Just take the plunge!”
“Alright!”
Almost at once, the ten ancient characters were swept up by the majestic force of death and descended into the deathsprings. When the death tribulation energy came into contact with the Lifesbane, the ancient characters separated and quickly merged with the death tribulation energy.
At that moment, Tianming’s death tribulation energy underwent earth-shattering changes. A terrifying force of death exploded from the Radix World Tree. This movement attracted the attention of many, who all stared blankly in his direction. Because they were close by, the sensation was exceptionally obvious.
"What is this? Has he entered the death phase?”
"Didn’t he just reach life phase? Yet now he’s about to enter death phase?”
"The key isn’t his speed, but how frightening his force of death is! When we first entered death phase, it didn't feel like this,” said Xuanyuan Yucheng.
"Yes, I wonder what he ate to grow so strong so fast. Whatever it is seems terrifying,” said Beigong Qianyu.