Wanhua City's Southern District.
Although it is one of the city's four major districts (East, West, South, and North), the Southern District is basically considered the city's slum area.
It is far less prosperous than the other three districts, and in a sense, the Southern District can be called the outer city of Wanhua City.
This is where the lower-class people of Wanhua City gather. As one of the few large cities in Linjiang Prefecture, the cost of living in Wanhua City is actually very high, incomparable to the former Lin'an County.
Even those who can settle down in Wanhua City, even in the Southern District, would be considered to have moderate conditions in other counties of Linjiang Prefecture.
However, life is still difficult, and the ability to withstand risks is quite weak. Encountering some setbacks will basically make them unable to bear it.
This also leads to a large flow of people in the Southern District of Wanhua City. There are many opportunities in a large city, but it is also very cruel. The capable rise, and the weak fall. This is the rule.
At this time, in a spacious courtyard on the edge of the Southern District, calling it a large courtyard is not quite suitable, because this courtyard is formed by connecting several adjacent small courtyards.
Because the location is quite remote, and the road is winding and one side is next to the city's drainage ditch, various smells occasionally emanate from it.
So, besides this large courtyard, there is only this one courtyard within several hundred meters nearby.
At this time, in a relatively spacious room in the large courtyard, Lin Sheng stood there. In front of him was a large pit, about four to five meters deep and ten feet wide.
Inside the large pit were no less than a dozen or so various kinds of snake-type Spirit Beasts.
Among them was a small snake that was entirely greenish-blue, about one meter long, with a bright red comb on its head, looking like a bizarre snake-bodied, chicken-headed creature.
There were also snake beasts that were entirely black with subtle red patterns mixed in, two meters long, with heads like mallets, as well as colorful slender snakes that looked incredibly vibrant and quite beautiful.
Some of these snakes were bought by him at a high price, and some were caught by him in the mountains and forests. Without exception, they were all venomous snakes containing potent poison.
Don't look at the small size of these snakes; some of them aren't even considered small toothpicks in front of many snake-type Spirit Beasts, but the toxicity contained within their bodies cannot be underestimated in the slightest.
Like the small green snake with a chicken head, it was the venomous snake he had seen on Yangping Mountain back then, nicknamed Crown Head Snake.
The black-scaled, round-headed snake is a highly venomous snake called Black Scale Snake. Its body contains strong corrosive poison. In terms of toxicity, it is even much stronger than the corrosive poison of the Black Tiger Ape.
He naturally put these venomous snakes together for the purpose of experimenting with the Blood Beast Spirit Imbueing Method obtained from Gongsun Beast.
The Blood Demon Centipede that Guo Feng cultivated back then is of great help to him now. The high physical constitution bonus, combined with the Rapid Healing talent that is highly compatible with physical constitution, greatly enhanced his vitality.
He would take out this Blood Beast Spirit Imbueing Method to study when he had nothing to do, and he also had his own understanding of this beast-imbueing method.
This secret method uses a Spirit Beast as the main body and applies various external forces to completely disrupt the Spirit Beast's growth trajectory, allowing it to grow in the direction one desires. If cultivated properly, it can completely break the Spirit Beast's original limits.
Of course, there are many side effects. During the cultivation process, one must be extremely careful and pay extra attention to the health of the Spirit Beast.
After all, this method of cultivating Spirit Beasts, which is equivalent to modification, if not careful, the main body Spirit Beast will die directly. At the same time, one must also pay attention to the various balances within the Spirit Beast's body during the cultivation process. This point is also the most difficult, otherwise, even if the cultivated Spirit Beast is successful, its lifespan will be extremely short.
This method of cultivation itself causes a great loss of vitality for the Spirit Beast.
To give a simple example, if the main body being cultivated is a White Ape, the White Ape's natural lifespan is probably around 30 years.
However, after being cultivated by the Blood Beast Spirit Imbueing Method, even if it can break through its own limits, its lifespan will be shortened to less than one-third of its original lifespan, or possibly even lower.
And once the balance of various energies in the main body Spirit Beast's body is not well controlled during the cultivation process, it will become extremely unstable. Even if the cultivation is successful, it will soon die prematurely and will not have much significance.
However, Lin Sheng has a different view on this secret method. If it is followed as written in the secret method, it requires a large number of trials and experiments to achieve the most suitable cultivation conditions based on the different types and individuals of the main body Spirit Beast, which will undoubtedly consume a lot of time.
He is indeed somewhat interested in cultivating Spirit Beasts, but the main purpose is for his own Embodiment.
He cannot spend several years and a large amount of resources to artificially create Spirit Beasts like Guo Feng did back then.
Therefore, he does not attach importance to the energy balance within the Spirit Beast's body and will not spend too much time on it. As long as the Spirit Beast serving as the main body does not die during the cultivation process, it is enough. As for after successful cultivation, even if it dies prematurely, it doesn't matter, after all, the purpose is just for Embodiment.
And these various venomous snakes are what he specifically uses to select the main body Spirit Beast.
For this purpose, he specifically found such a secluded courtyard in the Southern District.
Originally, the number of venomous snakes in this pool was nearly thirty. He did not give these venomous snakes any food. A week has passed, and the number of venomous snakes in this pool has been reduced by half and will continue to decrease until only one is left, which will be the Spirit Beast he uses as the main body for cultivation.
The reason for choosing venomous snakes is, firstly, there are many types of snake-type Spirit Beasts, and neither capturing nor purchasing them is difficult. Secondly, the size of venomous snake-type Spirit Beasts is generally not large, so even cultivating them in the city will not cause any commotion.
It just so happens that his Three Corpse Soul Severing Palm now also needs more potent poison to assist in cultivation, and cultivating venomous type Spirit Beasts is also suitable.
"I hope the result won't disappoint me."
After murmuring a couple of sentences softly, Lin Sheng had already left the courtyard.
This courtyard is in charge of Lao Zhou. If there are any changes during the cultivation process, he will be notified immediately.
"Calculating the time, it should be about right."
Lin Sheng did not return to his original residence but headed towards Tianxiang Restaurant.
Soon he arrived at Tianxiang Restaurant. After reporting Zhao Kongfang's name, a slightly overweight man came out and led him inside.
"Gongzi Lin, you've arrived. The items arrived yesterday and have been prepared for you. You can take them at any time."
The slightly overweight man was named Zhao Qian, one of the managers of Tianxiang Restaurant. At this moment, he said enthusiastically with a smile.
"Thank you, Manager Zhao. Why haven't I seen Senior Brother Zhao these past few days?"
Lin Sheng also returned a smile.
After becoming more familiar with Zhao Kongfang, he already knew about this Second Senior Brother's other background besides his identity as a Seven Forms Sect Disciple.
Among the two bosses behind Tianxiang Restaurant, which is ranked in Wanhua City, one is surnamed Zhao and is Zhao Kongfang's uncle.
Although the Zhao family behind Zhao Kongfang is not a first-rate force in Wanhua City, they cannot be underestimated. The Zhao family is involved in the silk and restaurant business, with dozens of large and small shops in Linjiang Prefecture, and even has business dealings in Tiannan Prefecture. Therefore, Zhao Kongfang can definitely be considered a rich second generation.
When he learned this, Lin Sheng was also quite surprised, but upon careful thought, it was also reasonable. Otherwise, how could Zhao Kongfang so easily purchase a considerable amount of Star Insects through Tianxiang Restaurant's channels?
"Young Master Zhao has some family matters to deal with recently. He will be back in a few days."
Zhao Qian replied with a smile on his face, and at the same time handed over a box about the size of a human head.
"Young Master also asked me to tell Gongzi Lin that Gongzi Lin can take these Star Insects first. If it's not enough, he will arrange for another batch."
Hearing this, Lin Sheng smiled and did not stand on ceremony, reaching out to take the box.
After he found Zhao Kongfang and expressed his interest in Star Insects, the other party patted his chest and said to leave it to him.
Lin Sheng did not take advantage of this. He would just give the corresponding money to Zhao Kongfang after he returned.
With the Star Insects in hand, he had no intention of staying longer, so he said goodbye and left. However, just as he took two steps, he was called back by Zhao Qian.
"Gongzi Lin, I almost forgot to tell you that there is also a Star Dew Grass in this box. This item must not be eaten."
"Okay."
He didn't expect there to be a Star Dew Grass inside, so he nodded in response.
Holding the box in his hand, he went directly out of the city and arrived at the top of the low mountain where he had previously cultivated.
Now that the Star Insects have arrived, it's time to properly study the Heart Monkey Talent.
"I hope this time can give me a different result."
During this time, he also activated the Heart Monkey Talent, but unfortunately, he still couldn't maintain it for too long. The intense pain caused him great mental exhaustion, and he couldn't confirm the use of the vertical pupil between his eyebrows at all.
But it's different now. With the assistance of the Star Insects, he is confident that he should be able to last longer.
On top of the mountain, as Lin Sheng's thoughts raced, changes immediately began to happen rapidly.
His entire body's muscles became engorged and swelled, and in just a breath, he had transformed into the appearance of the previous crimson giant.
Crack, crack, crack...
Slightly moving his neck, a series of crisp bone sounds came from his body.
At this time, he had Embodied the Three-Eyed Spirit Monkey and the Blood Demon Centipede. After all, the high physical constitution bonus from the Blood Demon Centipede was more practical, and the Rapid Healing talent was also very compatible with the Iron Bone talent.
Feeling the surge of power in his body, although he had felt it several times, each time after Embodiment, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
"This feeling of power is truly wonderful..."
Meanwhile, dozens of miles away from the low mountain, a black mist was sweeping towards the low mountain. The area of the black mist was not large, only a few zhang square.
The black mist was extremely fast, but it didn't make any sound.
However, wherever it passed, whether it was birds, beasts, mosquitoes, moths, or ants, none of them noticed anything until they were instantly swallowed and disappeared by the black mist. A huge outline was vaguely visible in the churning black mist.
"Heart Monkey Talent activated."
On top of the low mountain, as his thoughts flickered.
The familiar intense pain instantly surged from his mind, as if ten thousand needles were constantly shuttling through his brain. The unbearable intense pain made him tremble constantly, his hands desperately grabbing his hair, tightly gripping his head.
With sounds of muscles tearing, pale white bone spurs drilled out from under his skin.
The tightly closed vertical eye between his eyebrows also trembled slightly and slowly opened.
Revealing the yellow pupil within.
Lin Sheng's body trembled. He endured the overwhelming pain, reached out, directly smashed the wooden box lid, and plunged his large hand into the box to grab a handful of Star Insects emitting a faint blue light.
These Star Insects were all unprocessed and contained potent cold poison.
And he obviously couldn't care less about this, so he stuffed a handful of Star Insects into his mouth.
As the icy cold Star Insects entered from his mouth, a feeling of coolness instantly enveloped his internal organs and simultaneously headed towards his head.
Lin Sheng only felt a clarity in his mind, and the extremely rampant violent aura in his heart also dissipated somewhat.
Although the intense pain acting on his consciousness still existed, it was slightly weaker than before.
"It's useful!!"
Joy appeared in Lin Sheng's two bloodshot eyes. He immediately grabbed another handful of Star Insects from the wooden box and stuffed them into his mouth, swallowing them without chewing.
The coolness that had already dissipated considerably was immediately replenished.
The irritable violent aura calmed down a bit again, and the pain also weakened a little more.
"Three breaths..."
"Five breaths..."
He was calculating the time in his heart. After the vertical pupil between his eyebrows opened before, he could only last for at most three breaths before being unable to maintain it.
But now he could last for five breaths.
However, as time increased, the coolness brought by the Star Insects was rapidly diminishing.
"I can last longer!"
Lin Sheng had a ferocious look on his face and grabbed another handful of Star Insects from the wooden box and threw them into his mouth.
"Ten breaths..."
As the coolness within his body was constantly replenished, ten breaths of time had passed.
Just as he was about to grab some more Star Insects, he felt a slight movement from the vertical pupil between his eyebrows. He immediately turned his head to look down the mountain. His gaze extended his vision through a range of more than ten miles, which even dense forest could not conceal.
At such a distance, when he hadn't Embodied Spirit Beasts of the sensory type, he couldn't see anything at all, but the scene in his line of sight was clearly visible at this moment.
There, a mass of ink-black mist was rapidly moving through the mountain forest, coming towards this direction.
A faint sense of threat also came from it.
The vertical pupil between his eyebrows flickered with a faint light, and he saw a bizarre outline in the black mist that seemed to be a hybrid created from a large number of Spirit Beasts.
At this time, the black mist more than 10 miles away also suddenly stopped. The mixed, irregular behemoth in the mist seemed to sense something. An eye the size of a human head opened from above, and black energy surged above the eye. It looked at the crimson figure on the low mountain.
A strange look flashed in the large single eye, but soon it was replaced by intense greed, but it did not continue forward. After staring at the distant crimson figure for a while, the black mist quickly contracted and then returned the way it came.
On the low mountain, Lin Sheng watched this scene until the black mist was completely gone before immediately deactivating the Heart Monkey Talent.
Because of the Star Insects, his consciousness was able to remain somewhat clear, allowing him to successfully deactivate it.
"Hoo..."
He exhaled heavily, his entire body drenched in sweat.
Because he had already recognized what that black mist was.
That feeling was definitely a Phantom Demon Beast, no doubt.
"How could it appear here?! Didn't Fu City already send experts to eliminate its Magic Seed...?"