Chapter 2110: Bone Grafters
Seeing that Lu Yin still did not believe her story, Lan Xian was forced into a corner. "Blood Alchemy can be used to completely replace someone’s blood."
Lu Yin was startled. If this was true, then this might be Lan Xian"s true goal. Regardless of how powerful the Lu family"s blood might be, it was not worth the price that Lan Xian had been willing to pay. However, if she could replace her own blood with that of the Lu family"s, it was possible that she could awaken the Champions’ Stage innate gift. Such a transformation held an incredible appeal.
"Not only that, but I also haven’t opened my three meridian points yet. If I change my blood, that will essentially let me restart my life, and I can try to open my three meridian points with the same level of difficulty as an Enlighter, which means that the whole thing will become quite easy," Lan Xian said casually. With everything that she had already revealed, there was no reason to not just open up and share everything. If Lu Yin wanted Blood Alchemy, then Lan Xian’s best bet was to make the technique seem as impressive as possible and thereby increase her own value.
Lan Xian was successful in her attempt, as Lu Yin had become quite excited by this point. His excitement did not stem from his desire to replace his own blood, but rather because this technique had the potential to help various people. Also, it was possible that Blood Alchemy might be useful for him to use in the future for some plan or another. Lu Yin always preferred to thoroughly prepare when scheming, and something like Blood Alchemy could help him greatly with such preparations.
One day later, Lu Yin opened his eyes and stared at his hands. He had learned how to use Blood Alchemy, but Lan Xian had not been exaggerating; Blood Alchemy was not an easy technique to use, and it also required an impressive amount of time to use. However, Lu Yin did not lack time to cultivate at all. However, this was not the time to focus on Blood Alchemy, as there were several people he needed to meet with. Even the matter of absorbing the last four cauldrons’ energy had been pushed back.
Silver smiled as he approached Lu Yin. Every single time, his vulpine smile gave off a creepy vibe.
"Sometimes, I really want to punch you," Lu Yin indifferently commented.
Silver just shrugged. "Captain, I"m your man, so there’s no need to be mean."
Lu Yin stared at Silver. "I"ll give you a chance to tell me what I want to know. You won’t get another opportunity."
He finally felt confident showing such an arrogant att.i.tude towards anyone.
Silver"s eyes widened slightly as he stared at Lu Yin. The smile never slipped from the man’s face, but a hidden coldness entered his eyes. "Captain, have you heard of the bone grafters before?"
Lu Yin frowned. This was something else that he had never heard of before. As a person’s strength and status rose, their knowledge and access to various secrets would proportionately increase.
In the past, it would have been impossible for Arch-Elder Zen to ever mention how he had witnessed a meeting between Ancient G.o.d and a direct descendant of the Lu family to Lu Yin. Lan Xian similarly would have never been willing to share any information regarding Blood Alchemy, and Silver would have never said a word about the bone grafters.
People needed to rely on themselves, and the higher they climbed, the farther they would be able to see.
"Explain," Lu Yin ordered.
Silver ducked his head. "Bone grafters are an ethnic group that’s essentially been wiped out for ages. I’m the last member of our race. We have a unique ability, which is that we can freely replace our bones and skeletons and grow our bodies over the bones of powerhouses."
This was startling information. So, there were people with even this sort of bizarre ability?
"Every life form remains consistent in that the outside strengthens first, and then the inside, but we’re different. We select the bones of powerful experts to replace our own. How should I explain this…? For us, selecting new bones is like changing clothes, and by using more powerful bones, our strength increases drastically. As for our flesh itself, we don’t place much importance on it at all." Silver maintained his smile throughout his explanation.
Lu Yin listened in silence, learning about a strange race of humans.
"Even before I met you, Captain, I was already a Hunter, and I had already selected the bones of a powerful Semi-Progenitor from the Daosource Sect era. I replaced my bones right before the Astral Tower compet.i.tion, only to find that it was still not enough to catch up to your rate of improvement. Thus, I had no choice but to replace my bones again," Silver continued.
"Because both sets of bones I used came from the Specter clan, I’m naturally also a part of the Specter clan. However, unlike a true member of the clan, I have no sense of belonging or loyalty to the family."
Lu Yin continued to stare at Silver. "That’s why you were able to so casually betray the Neohuman Alliance, the Specter clan, and even Jue Yi: it’s because you never truly belonged to any of them."
Silver smiled. "That’s right. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll find the bones of a powerhouse from the Lu family. Then, you and I will become relatives, Captain!"
Lu Yin suddenly moved. His hand gripped Silver’s neck, and he started to squeeze. The man’s neck snapped, and his head dangled in a disturbing fashion that made Silver look like a corpse.
His eyes grew dull and colorless, but the same smile as ever remained on his face. The smile grew increasingly disturbing, and it quickly looked like the grin of a corpse.
Lu Yin pulled his hand back and stared at Silver.
He watched as the broken neck twitched, and then Silver’s arms moved as his hands rose to straighten the dangling head. There was a click as something reconnected, and the creepy smile suddenly became brighter than ever. "Do you believe me now, Captain?"
Lu Yin had not only broken Silver’s neck, but he had also destroyed all the meridian’s in the man’s body with a jolt of force. A normal cultivator would have been instantly crippled, but Silver showed no sign of discomfort or negative effects. It truly did seem like his body was as disconnected from his true self as a set of clothes he wore.
"I really want to kill you," Lu Yin stated bluntly.
Silver sighed. "I know. Anytime people learn I’m a bone grafter, that’s always their first reaction. I’m not surprised, Captain, as that’s just the fate of my race."
Lu Yin felt absolutely horrified by the concept of bone grafters. These people grew stronger and increased their own cultivation with the bones of the dead. That was a terrifying ability; while things would be fine as long as they had the bones of normal cultivators, if they obtained the skeleton of a Semi-Progenitor, as Silver had, a bone grafter could instantly reach the same level of combat strength as Chu Yuan and the other ancient Dao Chosen. If Silver managed to find the bones of a Progenitor, or even worse, the bones of one of the masters of the Three Realms Six Dao, he would instantly become an incredibly powerful expert.
"Captain, we’ve always been misunderstood by other people. While it’s true that we can become stronger by replacing our bones, how easy do you think it is to get the bones of a true powerhouse? It’s basically impossible to find the bones of a Progenitor, let alone actually acquire them. People are more afraid of us than they need to be." Silver shrugged in a somewhat helpless manner.
Lu Yin sneered. "Ever since I first met you on Earth to now, you’re the person whose strength has improved the most. Looking back, I risked my life multiple times to acquire my current strength, but you just needed to change your bones."
"But the bones of such powerhouses are the rarest treasures, aren’t they? I’m already using the best bones I could find, and it took an incredible amount of effort to get them. Honestly, even if I was given the skeleton of a Progenitor, I wouldn’t even be able to use it,” Silver replied.
Lu Yin could easily understand why the bone grafters had been almost completely wiped out. It was not just their method of cultivating and developing, but also their very ident.i.ties.
Silver had used the bones of a powerful expert from the Specter clan to become a part of the Specter clan, which indicated that if he found the bones of a powerhouse from the Lu family, he would be able to become a part of the Lu family, right? Even without possessing the blood of the Lu family, having the bones of the family accomplished the same thing.
Lu Yin suddenly smiled at a though; Lan Xian possessed Blood Alchemy while Silver was a bone grafter. Between the two, they were able to replace both the bones and the blood.
Wait—Blood Alchemy matched the abilities of the bone grafters too perfectly. Could they be connected?
Lu Yin gave Silver an odd look, and Silver started to get quite uncomfortable from the strange stare. Silver was supposed to be the one making other people uncomfortable with his stare.
"What are you going to do with me, Captain?" Silver asked. He made sure that his smile never slipped from his face.
Lu Yin continued to stare at Silver. "What do you want me to do with you?"
Silver responded, "There’s something that I forgot to mention to you before. The truth is that, when you were in Aeternus Nation, Shaman G.o.d wanted to transform you into a corpse king first. However, I suggested that we first make you a member of the Specter clan before transforming you into a corpse king. If not for me, the process order would have been reversed."
Lu Yin was taken aback. What was this all about?
"Even after you absorbed more death energy than should have been possible, your eyes never changed to look like ours, but I a.s.sured Shaman G.o.d that nothing was wrong and encouraged them to trust the process. I mentioned to you that we were headed to Progenitor Chen’s Mausoleum, as how else would you have been able to plan your escape? How could you have ever gotten away from Aeternus Nation?" Silver recounted with a smile.
Lu Yin smiled slightly. "So, are you saying I owe you a favor?"
Silver shrugged. "I just want you to understand that we’ve never been enemies. We weren’t before, and we won’t be in the future either."
Lu Yin dismissed Silver with a wave of a hand.
Silver was a threat, and Lu Yin did not fully believe the man’s words. Whether they would eventually become enemies all depended on what might happen in the future. Still, Lu Yin was not terribly bothered by the idea of Silver becoming an enemy. While Silver had the strange abilities of a bone grafter, there was also Liu Shaoge with his inscrutable mind. With the recent addition of Chu Yuan, who was a truly peerlessly talented individual, Lu Yin’s life would not be boring in the future, as he had several rivals to keep him sharp.
At the moment, Lu Yin had no plans to eliminate any of the three.
All kinds of different cultivation methods had appeared since the dawn of humanity, and regardless of how odd they might be, all of them were still human. As long as there was no irreconcilable grudge where only one person could live, Lu Yin did not want to casually kill people and be desensitized to it. Stil, he would do so when it was necessary.
Some good examples were w.a.n.g Si, Xia Ji, and others. He would never let go of his grudges against those people despite the fact that they were Semi-Progenitors. In fact, he would pursue revenge even if they became Progenitors.
A short time later, Lu Yin’s wireless jincan started to twitch. Elder Gong was sending him a message.
“Your power is from the Cosmic Art." The man seemed completely confident.
Lu Yin did not deny it. "Good guess."
In the Neoverse, Elder Gong grew extremely excited. "So it’s really true! Progenitor Chen did leave behind an incredible power that doesn’t lose out to the Rune Progenitor’s legacy, and it really is the Cosmic Art and that pattern!
"How far have you mastered the Cosmic Art now?"
Lu Yin was honest, "I’ve mastered the fifth level, and I need to start on the sixth."
"Work on that as soon as you can. As your mastery of the Cosmic Art increases, you’ll be able to exert more and more of the power that Progenitor Chen left behind. Given Progenitor Chen"s unrivaled combat strength, the power that you can access is enough to ensure the safety of the entire Fifth Mainland," Elder Gong replied.
Lu Yin responded, "This junior understands. If there’s nothing else, I need to meet with someone."
"Wait!" Elder Gong quickly sent. "When will you be able to return the pattern to my Cosmic Sect? You won’t completely use up all the power that Progenitor Chen left behind, right?"
Elder Gong was not entirely sure just what sort of power Progenitor Chen had left behind, but that did not matter. If the power was exhausted, it would be the same as when the Rune Progenitor’s remnant power faded away after it activated in response to the Sixth Mainland’s invasion. If the Rune Progenitor’s power had not been exhausted, it would have appeared during the Aeternals’ invasion, and a suppression of runes would have appeared at the same time as the mental network.
Lu Yin took a moment to consider the question. "I really don’t know how much power Progenitor Chen left behind, but you can rest a.s.sured that this junior will use the power properly and to the greatest effect. As for returning the pattern, that might have to wait until I fully master the Cosmic Art. All I know now is that I still need a higher level of mastery before I can do that."
Elder Gong sighed. It seemed they were still stuck. They had not been able to force Lu Yin to return the pattern even when he was an Enlighter, so with his new status and strength, it was simply impossible. "Just make sure that you stay safe."
"This junior understands," Lu Yin sent back. The call ended, and Lu Yin left. Destina had come to visit.
After the Heavenly Gates conference ended, the gatemasters had all left one after another. Lu Yin had already planned to discuss things with Lu Buzheng and the others before reaching out to Destina to talk about Big Sis. Destiny’s heir was very strange, and Lu Yin did not want to act rashly without first getting to know the woman a bit more.
However, Destina had approached Lu Yin first this time.