Dark Moon Era

Chapter 201: Flames From Hell

Could time really be reversed?

If it was possible, Su Yao would want to go back to that particular day. He would not have just stood by and watched the person walk away from him.

“It’s dangerous from here on, but I like to do things my way by taking risks and being reckless, so I’ll go alone. Trust me.”

Su Yao trusted him. He trusted the man every time, but this time, what he got in return was devastating news. If he had known this would happen, he would not have chosen to trust the man for once. He wanted to go back to that very moment that day and stop him.

Unfortunately, the Backtrack Serum could not reverse time. It was just a magical serum that would invoke the cell memories in each and every cell in the body, allowing them to return to their prime state for a certain amount of time, hence giving the illusion of one going back in time and appearing younger or stronger. Tragically, it came with a cost.

In short, it was a magic potion of sorts that the old civilization could not explain with their cellular biology theory.

Fifteen minutes later, Su Yao stood up. His hair had grown long and white, reaching his shoulders. His body was bigger and more robust while his yellow skin was giving off a strange luster, like the sheen of the land.

His already pronounced facial features became more rigid. His brows were thick and his gaze was deeper. Besides that, his nose was taller, making him look like a mighty lion.

“Hey, Su Siao, did you know whenever we are together, everyone intentionally avoids a certain topic?” He leisurely lay down with his hands behind his head and crossed his legs while a cigarette hung from his mouth as he gazed into the starry night.

A Level 5 mutated beast, the Starwave lion, suddenly walked past him in the vast grassland.

“Roar!” He jolted up and yelled fiercely at the Starwave lion, frightening the animal as if it was a scaredy-cat. It tucked its tail between its legs and fled nervously.

“Why are you doing that?” Su Siao thought it was lame for Su Yao to scare the lion away, yet he could not help but feel curious about what he said. “What topic are they avoiding?”

“It’s about looks! I’m simply too handsome, so whenever you are with me, you look like a beast walking by my side.” He was serious as he pointed at his face. “Who says there’s only Beauty and the beast? When I’m with you, it’s Handsome and the beast.”

“Everyone feels a little awkward, but hey, you know how...”

“You piece of sh*t!” Su Siao really wanted to punch him. If heaven gave him a chance, he would seize the opportunity to punch Su Yao’s face beyond recognition and beat his talkative mouth into pulp.

Unfortunately, the heavens did not give him such an opportunity since Su Yao was eight. No one could beat him in a fight as only he defeated others in brawls.

“You shall be known as the Mad Lion from now on. Doesn’t that sound cool?” He sat straight and spat the grass from his mouth, his eyes filled with joy. “Whenever you arrive, it must be grand, Brother! Tsk, tsk, tsk, now look at the admiration of the people when they scream, ‘Mad Lion Su Siao, Mad Lion Su Siao!’ Wouldn’t it make your beastly looks more handsome? Like 20 times more handsome than you are!”

“Goddamnit, are you done?” Su Siao was pissed off.

“Nope.” Su Yao lay down and gazed into the deep starry sky again. “Did you know that the most majestic beast in this grassland is the white lion? Back in the old civilization, legend says that the white lion is God’s emissary. It’s the king of the grassland.”

“You said you were born with white hair and it gets me thinking at times. Were you a white lion in your past life? You do look like one now.”

“Did you go such a big round just to tease me?” Su Siao was at a loss whether to cry or laugh. He could not hold it back anymore and threw a punch at Su Yao.

Whatever! Even if I can’t beat him, I’ll give it my best!

“Ouch! Stop it, Brother Su Siao! Stop! I get it! My bad! But consider my words. Mad Lion does sound cool. The Mad Roaring White Lion, haha!”

The memories were so distant that even when he reminisced at times, he was not sure whether they had happened before.

However, many years later, what he said came true. The people looked at him with admiring gazes, cheering, “Mad Lion Su Siao, Mad Lion Su Siao!” At that moment, he somehow forgot about the days when he lived in the grassland.

Time was irreversible, but was it truly so? Su Yao picked up the mirror Rona left behind. He looked very young in the mirror to the point that it felt surreal. It felt like he was not looking into a mirror but a younger portrait of himself.

Mad Lion Su Siao? Had the name been forgotten?

He came up with the name, so how could it be forgotten? Su Yao, or rather, Su Siao, knew that this name would make a grand entrance one day. Finally, the day that he had been waiting was here

“That kid.” Somehow Su Siao thought of Tang Ling and called out his name as his lips curled into a smile.

Life went on and carried on to the next generation. Just like what he said before, there was hope. Even if hope was not present at the moment, it would be there in the next. In this very world, not even God could destroy hope.

“Will he be able to recognize me?” Su Siao curled his fists and there was dust swirling around them when he clenched them tightly. It formed a thin layer of dust around his fists and hardened instantly.

Whenever he thought of how surprised Tang Ling would be when he saw his younger self, Su Siao could not help but feel delighted in a mischievous way.

This is goddamned interesting! He shook his fists and the layer of hardened dust shattered into dust that floated into the air.

...

Boom!

Tang Ling was almost sent flying by a burst of energy when he opened the door to the energy room. How did it feel like being blasted by volatile energy due to the increased intensity? It was not...fun.

Tang Ling clenched his teeth and shut the door with a bang. He could not leave it open and let the energy slip out.

Huuu. He heaved a long breath and sat on his knees in front of the door.

Staying inside the energy room was really uncomfortable like he was inside a gravity room. The gravitational pull inside the energy room was almost five times stronger than it was outside. Standing inside the room, he felt like he was being hammered by rocks. When he sat down on his knees, he could even hear the cracks from his bones.

Can I really absorb the energy here? Will I implode my body when I absorb it?

Tang Ling had no answer or choice. What he sought was simple: he wanted to activate the war seed!

What would it be like if there were 20 of himself? How powerful would he be? What if he added the little seed’s transformation to it? He could not imagine how powerful he would become! Would it be enough for him to take revenge?

Before that, he still had to activate the war seed, the item that he had gotten from the Mysterious Store. How much energy would it require and how long would it take?

Factoring all the elements in, Tang Ling had planned this from the start and his answer was the energy reserve of the Tower. Now, he was already inside one of the energy rooms, so he shut his eyes and started cultivating the Thousand Satin Skill.

He wanted to use the Thousand Satin Skill to absorb the energy into his body, then direct the excess energy into the war seed. It was really dangerous. Even Tang Ling himself did not expect the energy in the room to be this volatile, but he could not change his plans now because he did not have a way to directly absorb the energy.

Inhale, exhale.

Tang Ling’s breathing started to slow down as he activated the Thousand Satin Skill. Since the condensed energy in the room that had nowhere to go found a small exit, they gushed into him violently.

Ptui!

All Tang Ling did was suck in a little bit of energy and he spat out a mouthful of blood. He did not even have to capture the energy in the room with his visualization. When the high-intensity energy entered his body, he felt like he was sucking in one hammer after another that would wreak violence upon his body.

For an instant, Tang Ling felt like every cell in his body was on the brink of imploding.

Sh*t! What now? I can’t absorb it. If I forcefully absorb it, I will die, but...

Tang Ling wiped the blood off his mouth as he shut his eyes again. There was still another way that he could try, and if Plan B were to fail, he was prepared to forcefully absorb the energy with his life on the line!

“Little seed, little seed...” Tang Ling concentrated his spirit and attempted to contact the seed inside his heart.

The little seed replied to him quickly with a sense of blurry sleepiness.

Recently, it was always in a satiated condition unlike previously when it always longed for energy. Therefore, most of the time, the little seed was just sleeping.

‘Can you feel the energy here?’ Tang Ling delivered his thoughts.

The little seed responded with excitement immediately. Compared to food that it had to convert into energy, the purest of energy was the resources it needed the most to grow.

Unfortunately, even after Tang Ling cultivated the Thousand Satin Skill to the highest level, his body’s energy absorption still could not satisfy the little seed’s requirement, thus replenishing his energy via other methods would be the best way.

Regardless of that, the little seed’s excitement was understandable when it suddenly sensed a room filled with energy. ‘Daddy, Daddy, Little Seed wants to eat...Daddy, eat...’

Tang Ling’s face twitched as he felt like he was talking to a retard. Even though he tried to numb himself, every time he heard the little seed calling him daddy, the mixed feelings in his heart would swell.

He tried his best to suppress the discomfort in his heart. Then, he started to send his thoughts to the little seed, telling it his plan. He did not know whether his plan was too complicated for the little seed. What could he expect from a retard? Tang Ling was not confident at all.

Five minutes later, his simple plan was explained repeatedly seven times before the little seed got a tinge of understanding of the plan.

It also tried to deliver its thoughts to Tang Ling, but it was filled with jealousy.

‘Why do I have to spit out what I eat? Why do I have to share my food with the other thing?’

The other thing? Tang Ling was upset by the little seed’s attitude. Where is your empathy? Aren’t both of you seeds?

Unfortunately, he could not ask for too much based on the little seed’s limited intellect. The only way to get around the dumb seed was to cheat his way through.

‘Hey, you have to spit out what you eat, but you get to eat it first, meaning Daddy loves you the most. If you eat too much at once, you can’t digest it. You will hurt yourself and I’ll be sad. So, this time, you have to share, but I don’t want the other thing to have it so easily. Then, you can just spit out what you ate. That’s the only item the other thing can eat.’

Tang Ling did not feel guilty at all when he cheated the little seed, but he felt a serious insult to his intellect because the words he said were disgusting.

He called himself daddy! However, it could not be helped. If he did not lower his intellect to the same level, he could not communicate with the little seed.

Tang Ling’s tricks worked! The little seed was a little happy, and it even started to behave like a spoiled brat, probably because Tang Ling was a little too kind to it.

‘It’s a deal then! Daddy will absorb the energy and as for what I cannot finish, you can have it. After that, remember to spit it out slowly! A good kid must have manners. Spitting out too much at once is bad manners.’

Tang Ling even emphasized the frequency of the energy release at the end. He was afraid that the dumb little seed would release all the energy at once without absorbing any. That would render his effort useless then.

The little seed expressed that it understood.

Tang Ling wiped the sweat off his forehead in relief. He then activated the Thousand Satin Skill again. As a matter of fact, he would rather eat vicious beast meat than communicate with the little seed because it was too damn tiring.

Half a minute later, Tang Ling entered the silent state and his body was like a vortex in the energy room filled volatile energy.

Boom!

Similar to the previous times, the energy rushed into his body. While Tang Ling was trying his best to divert the energy, the little seed also went along with his absorption and sucked in as much as it could.

The first attempt was decent, so the energy absorption rate was within an acceptable range for both Tang Ling and the little seed.

Tang Ling ignored the little seed crying about eating too much or wanting to throw up. He transferred the energy from all over his body to his inner thighs.

The excessive energy that the little seed failed to absorb was also the limit of what Tang Ling could withstand. In fact, it might already exceed his limit by a little.

The process was a painful one. With every inch that he moved, his body felt like it was being squashed by something heavy. Fortunately, the pain was within an acceptable range, so it would not implode his cells with excessive energy or even damage his body altogether.

On the contrary, coupled with the nature of the Thousand Satin Skill, which used the energy to temper the cells, the cells were able to absorb a certain level of energy.

Tang Ling realized that his cells would capture a little bit of energy under this condition though he did not control his cells to do that. It was more like a natural instinct. He also realized that cultivating the Thousand Satin Skill in such an environment was twice as efficient as cultivating in a normal environment.

Finally, when the first wave of energy was transferred to his inner thighs where he hid the war seed, the latter started to respond.

However, the war seed absorbed the energy in an instant. The energy that Tang Ling had transferred so strenuously was absorbed easily, leaving nothing behind.

What kind of efficiency was this? How big was the war seed’s appetite? Compared to the war seed, the little seed was like a kid with anorexia.

“Little seed, spit.” His eyes remained close as he commanded the little seed to release the energy.

Huaaa!

The little seed spat out a huge wave of energy all of a sudden, causing Tang Ling’s body to shake and almost implode on himself.

Nevertheless, the effects of the little cultivation that was going on immediately showed. Tang Ling was able to withstand the sudden big wave of energy and he could gradually control it.

As though the little seed sensed Tang Ling’s pain, it felt guilty and begged him not to beat it. It was the first time Tang Ling felt such paternal warmth, so he comforted the little seed, ‘Little seed, you’re a good kid. Daddy won’t beat you.’

Right after he told the little seed that, he wanted to beat himself to death.

My goodness! Why am I playing Daddy so well now? Goddamn it, how disgusting am I now? Will it become a habit in the future?

Nevertheless, he was in the midst of cultivation, so extra thoughts were forbidden. The thoughts flashed past in his mind before he concentrated on feeding the war seed.

Another five minutes passed. The energy intensity in the room was a little weaker despite being compressed to the point that it almost materialized.

Tang Ling was getting better at playing along with the little seed while the energy being channeled to the war seed was getting faster too.

To Tang Ling’s surprise, although he originally wanted only to feed the war seed via the Thousand Satin Skill, his body welcomed a huge boost.

Under extreme pressure, the cells in his body also underwent extreme tempering, and with sufficient energy at his disposal, he did not have to worry about how much energy to absorb or how much energy he should use to temper his cells. Even if the absorption was unintentional, the energy would linger in his cells and further nourish his body.

Ten minutes later, due to the increased efficiency and Tang Ling’s surging growth, a fourth of the energy in the room was gone!

Tang Ling also welcomed another surprise at his belly region as the first energy vortex started to slowly take shape!

What else was more remarkable than this?

One thing worth noting was that the Addendum and the Thousand Satin Skill of Safety Sector No. 17 was different from the start. Other than the energy washing of cells, the biggest difference in the two manuals was the formation of the energy vortices.

Safety Sector No. 17’s Thousand Satin Skill did not specify where the first energy vortex should form. It encouraged speed more than the location of the formation. On the other hand, the Addendum specifically stated that the first energy vortex should be formed at the dantian.

On top of that, the Addendum also mentioned that the first energy vortex was the beginning of all sources. Its meaning was self-explanatory. After its formation, all energy should go through it first before spreading towards the body because he must use it to nourish his own life force.

Therefore, forming the first energy vortex in the dantian area was the topmost priority. One should not try to accomplish it in one stroke. Instead, one should focus on the cultivation and temper it repeatedly. Natural formation was key, not forceful and intentional creation.

As a matter of fact, everyone in the Fierce Dragon Squad was able to form their first energy vortex thanks to Tang Ling’s soup.

However, Tang Ling did not create the energy vortex on purpose. Instead, he repeatedly shattered the energy that gathered in his dantian, then compressed it again and again until it reached the limit.

After waiting for the day when he could no longer shatter and compress the energy in his dantian, today his wait yielded fruit with the natural formation.

What he did not know was that this process was actually strenuous and long for everyone who could cultivate the Addendum version of the Thousand Satin Skill. As long as the energy vortex remained formless, the cultivation speed would always fall behind.

Besides, where would one get that much energy to shatter and compress? Even if one could get sufficient energy, would the body even be able to handle the stress?

Therefore, many who cultivated the Addendum did not wait for the natural formation of the energy vortex but created it via artificial means since the natural formation of the energy was too difficult to achieve.

If Tang Ling did not have the little seed in his heart and end up in the energy due to various reasons, he might have to artificially create the energy vortex himself later.

Right now, after the energy vortex took shape, Tang Ling’s energy absorption started to surge, but since the intensity of energy in the room had been lowered, it was a lot thinner and not as volatile. Furthermore, Tang Ling’s body had been tempered to withstand more, thus the lower energy intensity was a lot more comfortable than when he first came in.

He continued his cultivation. He also proceeded to feed the war seed while he tempered his cells again and again, so the energy was absorbed, shattered and compressed.

Meanwhile, the energy vortex in his belly was getting stronger.

The war seed also started to respond by giving Tang Ling a strange feeling. It was more than two-thirds from reaching its limit, just a little bit more to becoming completely awakened.

How long had it been?

Tang Ling decided to widen his absorption since it was not necessary for him to be as vigilant. Because he had obtained something good from the cultivation, he should not be holding himself back by repeating the vigilant and difficult mode of absorption.

As long as he could be stronger and save some time...

When the war seed was full, Tang Ling would lay the flames from hell on the Agnes family and burn them to the ground!