Chapter 598 - 559: The Dissected Insect Carcass, an Ancient Top Secret
Chapter 598: Chapter 559: The Dissected Insect Carcass, an Ancient Top Secret
Song Ciwan witnessed an utterly horrifying scene.
An insect—one that had been dead for an unknown number of years—was regenerating its flesh even after it had been carved away.
The shock of this moment was no less than what she’d felt when her Lifespan had broken through a cosmic cycle, when her spirit had soared into the ethereal void and she had witnessed giant insects roaming the endless Abyss.
’No, this is even more terrifying!’
A storm raged in Song Ciwan’s heart. It wasn’t until the gray-robed boy had finished carving a large ring from the insect corpse’s tail that she finally wrestled her emotions under control.
Her earlier question, at least, had been answered—
’So, the insect corpse can actually regenerate!’
It was no wonder the gray-robed boy called the insect "Insect Food" and said that he and his people survived by eating it—that they were raised on it.
But that wasn’t enough. Answering one question only gave rise to more.
She circulated the Sutra of Sitting and Forgetting, silently regulating her True Qi to suppress the turmoil in her heart, and fixed her gaze back on the boy and the insect corpse.
The gray-robed boy was carving up the Insect Food. While it wasn’t a formal dissection of a member of the Ancient Divine Insect Race, the process was similar in some ways. This was a rare sight, one she had to observe carefully.
Song Ciwan noticed that the gray-robed boy was selective about which parts of the flesh he cut.
The insect’s torso was plump and round. The black flesh on its exterior looked nauseating at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it seemed to have the texture of silken tofu. It was soft and springy. The gray-robed boy placed the pieces into a leather pouch at his waist.
That dark leather pouch was clearly a Storage Treasure.
Piece after piece of insect flesh went inside, yet the leather pouch remained flat, showing no signs of filling up.
Once a ring was carved from the insect’s tail, a massive, web-like network of dark red channels was revealed. The lines, some thick and some thin, were a tangled, intertwining mess. A single glance was enough to make Song Ciwan feel dizzy, as if she were lost in the turbulent currents of a Star Sea.
The Samadhi True Fire in her Sea of Consciousness instantly roared to life. The Heart Sutra Fire, the Bright God Fire, and the Calmness Fire—the Upper, Middle, and Lower Samadhi—all surged in unison. The seedling that had sprouted from the Heart Demon Seed swayed rapidly, all of it working together to protect her mind from being overwhelmed.
A divine light flashed in Song Ciwan’s eyes as she fully activated her Spiritual Eyes and once again stared intently at the network of channels.
She had a powerful premonition that these channels held a great secret of the Ancient Divine Insect Race.
’If I can just unlock this secret, then... then...’
Song Ciwan forcefully suppressed her turbulent emotions, compelling herself to focus her mind. The True Qi throughout her body surged, splitting into two streams. One flowed into the Samadhi True Fire in her Sea of Consciousness, while the other rushed toward her spirit.
Transforming Qi into Spirit!
This was the power of the spirit, and also the power of the Divinity Transformation realm.
All 360 of her major acupoints throbbed as her Qi Blood surged. Her entire body felt like a great furnace, rising and falling within the World Beyond the World.
Her Qi Blood burned fiercely, uniting her Essence, Qi, and Spirit. Her entire being—from body to mind, from will to spirit—achieved a wondrous state of perfect unity.
This state even surpassed the limits of her own cultivation realm. This union of Essence, Qi, and Spirit was a level Song Ciwan had never reached before.
And then, in that instant, she finally saw it clearly!
That half-exposed, tangled network inside the suspended insect corpse... those weren’t channels at all.
It was clearly, unmistakably, a character.
An incomplete character. An incomplete character from Huaxia.
It was...
What was it?
’A pair of crossing lines?’
’No, that’s not it!’
’There’s a frame around them!’
The gray-robed boy moved between the chains, inadvertently pushing the massive insect corpse and causing it to sway.
Song Ciwan then saw that not only was there a frame, but next to it was a curved hook—
’No, not just a curved hook, but a vertical one!’
’Crossing lines in a frame, with a vertical hook... what character could that be?’
Song Ciwan burned her Qi Blood, channeling all the power from her 360 acupoints. Her True Qi and Qi Blood surged to her head, but even so, resisting the dizzying sensation was excruciatingly painful.
The pain in her eyes was agonizing; she was about to reach her limit.
BOOM!
Song Ciwan felt as if a great, mountain-sized hammer had descended from the nameless void, smashing down upon her with ferocious might.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Even with all her power, her profound True Qi and surging Qi Blood were not enough to withstand the hammer’s assault.
She could barely stay on her feet, her strength all but spent.
At her absolute limit, Song Ciwan bit the tip of her tongue and spat out a mouthful of heart’s blood.
Then, at that very same moment, she chose to burn her Lifespan!
A thousand years!
A thousand years of her Lifespan turned to fuel, and the Samadhi True Fire in her Sea of Consciousness blazed higher than ever.
And so, Song Ciwan saw clearly again. Above the crossing lines, there was another shape, like the character for "platform"...
’No, no, I’m wrong again.’ Some unspeakable power was constantly interfering with her vision.
Drawing on the power from her burning Lifespan, Song Ciwan looked again. This time, she saw it clearly. It wasn’t the full "platform" character above the crossing lines, but only its upper half.
’The character for "together"?’
She pressed one hand to her brow, pushing through the layers of fog and sweeping aside the dizziness. Finally, as the thousand years of her life force burned to its peak, a flash of Spiritual Light ignited in her mind, and she understood.
’This is... It’s the character for Chaos.’
’Yes, that’s what it has to be. The character for Chaos.’
It was the traditional form of the character. While Song Ciwan could recognize traditional characters, she wasn’t nearly as familiar with them as she was with their modern, simplified versions.
Combined with the strange interference from the void, it was no wonder she had kept getting it wrong.
The moment she finally recognized the character for "Chaos," the void was suddenly suffused with a red glow. The corpse above was no longer a corpse—it had transformed into a roiling sea of blood!
The sea of blood churned with tempestuous waves. At that moment, one impossibly tall tsunami after another formed and came crashing down on Song Ciwan.
BOOM! RUMBLE!
The colossal waves raged, roaring like a world-ending tsunami. It felt as if heaven and earth were about to collapse.
Above her, the gray-robed boy, who had still been carving the corpse, suddenly shrieked in alarm. "Insect Explosion! This is insane, how could it be an Insect Explosion? Quick, run...!"
The word "run" had barely left his lips before a surging, blood-red wave slammed into him, sending him hurtling straight for Song Ciwan.
The gray-robed boy vomited a torrent of blood. Engulfed in a crimson glow, he looked like a blood-red meteor streaking through the void.
His screams were swallowed by the crimson tide. His eyes bulged from their sockets, filled with absolute, soul-crushing terror.
Just as he was about to collide with her, Song Ciwan planted her feet, and the True Flame in her Sea of Consciousness raged.
She burned her Lifespan once more. Another thousand years!
Not for any other reason, but to write a single character: the character for "Conceal."
What of Chaos?
I will simply conceal the sea of blood within the void.