Chapter Twenty-Six: From Cocoon to Butterfly

"Run!"

Driven by a primal instinct for survival, this was the only thought left in Qin Feng’s mind. The terror that clung to his heart, stemming from this unknown entity, far surpassed the crushing pressure the middle-aged man of the Earth-Gang realm had imposed upon him just moments before.

But Qin Feng had grossly underestimated his pursuer’s speed. Although his physique had been greatly enhanced by the strange illness that had transformed him, he was still leagues below his opponent, especially from the perspective of someone—or something—operating on a much higher plane. What’s more, they were underwater, and the mysterious creature was clearly far better adapted to this aquatic environment than he was.

So, before Qin Feng had managed to swim very far, the thing was upon him.

As it closed in, he finally saw what it was—a gigantic, blood-red leech! Its size was absurd, easily as long as a grown man’s palm, and the strange crimson glow emanated from its belly.

But...

Even in that brief glance, Qin Feng noticed something odd: as the leech swam, its body writhed and twisted incessantly.

Was it having a seizure?

Clearly not. But if not, then why?

There was no time to ponder. Qin Feng’s right hand flared with fire, which he thrust toward the approaching leech. Though they were underwater, his flames were no ordinary fire and lost none of their potency. With a will of their own, they coiled around the leech, enveloping it in searing heat.

A constant sizzling sound filled his ears, and the leech writhed in clear agony within the flames.

Seeing this, Qin Feng breathed a sigh of relief. Yet, in the very next instant, his expression froze in disbelief.

The leech was not dead. It was breaking free of the fire’s grip, its mouth lined with rings of steel-like teeth lunging for his palm.

Qin Feng hurried to harden the skin of his hand—a technique he had always prided himself on. But it was useless; his supernatural defense was no more than paper before those savage ringed jaws, pierced in an instant.

A surge of agony shot through his palm, and sweat broke out across his brow.

Damn it, what kind of monstrous creature is this? It’s over, truly over! Bitten by such a mysterious beast—how could I possibly survive?

This was the first thought to flash through Qin Feng’s mind after the leech’s bite. But then, something even more astonishing happened.

Leeches are parasitic blood demons. Instinctively, he expected it to drain him dry, leaving him a shriveled corpse. But today, events took a different turn.

He sensed that the leech, clamped onto his palm, was not draining his blood. Instead, it was forcing that mysterious, glowing drop from its crimson belly into his own body!

The moment that drop entered his veins, Qin Feng’s entire body shuddered. Every drop of blood within him surged, boiling with an uncontainable fervor. His blood quaked with a kind of reverence—a worship—an instinctive submission to the sacred ancestral bloodline.

No... could it be...?

Qin Feng was stunned, utterly confounded by this bizarre turn of events. His body felt no rejection of the blood—there could be only one explanation: this was the blood of the Ancestral Dragon, the purest lineage of the Azure Dragon clan!

Pure Ancestral Dragon blood, undiluted!

Delight was quickly followed by dread.

Why?

Because pure Ancestral Dragon blood could not be absorbed directly by the human body. Only after being diluted in the Ancestral Dragon Blood Pool, through special rituals, could it be slowly absorbed by a clan member’s nascent bloodline spirit. A single drop could sustain the awakening of ten thousand bloodline spirits.

Throughout the Qin family’s history, some had dared to try absorbing pure Ancestral Dragon blood directly. The result was always the same: their bodies exploded, leaving only death.

No exceptions.

The ancestors had long forbidden such reckless acts, warning all generations that it was a taboo.

And yet, this enormous unknown leech had somehow swallowed a drop of Ancestral Dragon blood and survived—at least for a time—escaping with its life.

That was not the worst part. This blood-drinking creature, unable to digest the blood and now facing death, in a desperate act bit Qin Feng. Though it had managed to consume a small part of the blood, the majority was forcibly injected into Qin Feng’s body.

Clearly, it was shifting disaster onto someone else, making Qin Feng its scapegoat!

But the leech’s limited wits had caused it to underestimate its chosen fall guy.

Qin Feng was furious!

Taking advantage of the brief moment before the blood’s reaction became overwhelming, he clenched his fists, trapping the leech in his grasp. He then unleashed the Devouring Fire once more, burning it thoroughly.

The leech, already half-dead from the torment of the blood, had no strength to resist. Though it had managed to force the Ancestral Dragon blood into Qin Feng, the damage it had suffered was beyond repair. It lay limp in his palm, unable to move, slowly turning black and hard in the relentless fire.

Yet before Qin Feng could savor his victory, a sudden surge of red light erupted from his body. His form began to bloat, swelling uncontrollably like an inflating balloon.

Damn, this time I’m finished!

He barely managed to utter those last words before pain overwhelmed him, and he lost consciousness.

The pain was simply unbearable.

…

At that moment, the skies darkened and rain began to fall, thick clouds gathering overhead.

On the lake’s surface, Qin Feng’s body flickered with red light, at times stretching, at others swelling, teetering on the brink of collapse.

And just as he was about to be destroyed, a mysterious black radiance burst forth from the vertical line on his forehead, enveloping the red light. The crimson glow recoiled from the black, as if fleeing a demon. Without the courage to resist, it was swiftly overwhelmed and devoured, until the black light had claimed every part of his body. Then, the black radiance shrank back into his forehead, vanishing into the dark line at his brow.

Qin Feng’s swollen, distorted body finally calmed. Yet after all the swelling and transformation, his body had undergone astonishing changes. Even his cultivation, while he lay unconscious, advanced to the Tenth Tier!

Of course, all this was only what appeared on the surface. The true battle had raged within him. Seemingly simple, it was fraught with peril; had the mysterious black light emerged only a moment later, Qin Feng would surely have perished.

After the rain, the sky cleared.

Mirror Lake, after that storm of calamities, returned at last to peace.

Only Qin Feng remained, floating silently upon the water, for who knows how long.

But the profound transformations in his body, and the solid, azure dragon tattoo now emblazoned across his back, foretold that when this young man awoke, he would begin a journey unlike any he had ever known…