The Decaying World-Chapter 134 - 125: Test 3

There were three options. Lin Hui carefully reviewed the time and cost required for each.

The first option would take one year. That was short, but the key thing was that it wasn’t very useful.

The second... fifteen years...

’As expected of something of this quality. If I were to use it as a weapon, it would last for who knows how many years. The higher the quality, the longer the evolution time... I can understand that.’ Fifteen years was a bit long. Even with various medicines to accelerate the process, Lin Hui felt it was too long. It wasn’t worth it just for a single weapon.

This was especially true when he imagined himself one day facing a powerful enemy, pulling the lamb skewer from his back, pointing it diagonally at the ground, and declaring, ’To kill you, I won’t need a second skewer’....

Lin Hui’s expression instantly froze.

He immediately abandoned the second option and looked at the third. This one only required two years.

’This is the one. I’ll give it a try.’

He had long planned to try evolving other things. Now was the time to experiment with this food first.

He quickly confirmed the third evolution. The Blood Seal changed form, once again becoming a pattern, and new evolution information appeared next to the lamb skewer in his vision.

’Purgatory Ram Skewer: Time remaining: 2 years.’

After setting his target, Lin Hui quickly ate the other skewers and took out the Illusory Dragon Lotus that his disciple had just presented to him.

He had originally planned to use this Treasure Medicine for all-night cultivation sessions, but he never expected it to be so effective at shortening evolution times. It was a pleasant surprise.

He had already consumed one stalk, and now there were nine left.

Lin Hui didn’t feel the slightest bit of regret. He finally had the resources to speed things up, and he could at last experiment with the Blood Seal’s other functions.

He had actually wanted to develop its other functions for a long time, but the long evolution times and his overwhelming sense of crisis had forced him to delay until now.

Now, he could finally give it a try.

He picked up an Illusory Dragon Lotus and slowly began to chew it, letting it dissolve in his mouth.

Lin Hui watched the remaining time on the Blood Seal. Soon, after about ten minutes, he had finished one Illusory Dragon Lotus, and the remaining time had been reduced to just over a month.

Lin Hui picked up another stalk, bit off a tiny piece, and let it dissolve in his mouth. Only when the remaining time was completely gone did he let out a breath and put the Illusory Dragon Lotus back.

Within his field of vision, the lamb skewer was already starting to change.

As if time were speeding up, the skewer began to blacken and char. Dense clusters of oily bubbles frothed up on the surface of the meat.

WHOOSH.

Suddenly, the lamb skewer spontaneously burst into flames. The fire wasn’t a normal reddish-yellow, but a bizarre blackish-red.

Lin Hui carefully held the skewer stick and examined the information provided by the Blood Seal.

’Purgatory Ram Skewer: Evolution complete. Quality: Excellent. Shelf life: 1 day. Due to environmental differences, Purgatory power is being rapidly consumed by an external, unknown force.

This is a meat skewer made from the flesh of a Purgatory Ram. It is highly praised in Purgatory. Consumption will raise one’s Purgatory searing aura to a low level.

Note: In most environments, the Purgatory searing aura manifests as an enhanced fire-poison effect. It is extremely contagious and parasitic. Once transmitted, it is incredibly difficult to remove.’

’How am I supposed to eat this thing?’ Lin Hui hesitated, staring at the black-flamed lamb skewer in his hand.

A second later, he coated the inside of his mouth with Inner Strength and took a direct bite.

Instantly, a thick, sulfuric odor flooded his nose and mouth, but the lamb itself was crispy, fragrant, and had an excellent texture.

The surface of the thing was burning with fire, but surprisingly, it wasn’t hot at all to eat.

Once Lin Hui took the first bite, he couldn’t stop. With a few more mouthfuls, he devoured all eight pieces of lamb in less than two seconds.

WHOOSH.

He swallowed the last piece of meat and let out an involuntary breath.

As the breath escaped his mouth, it turned into a shower of sparks.

At the same time, a scorching hot aura began to spread rapidly from his stomach throughout his entire body.

Gradually, a faint red tinge appeared in Lin Hui’s eyes, but it quickly faded as he circulated his Inner Strength.

The hot current slowly subsided, and he carefully assessed his body.

’No changes. It seems there’s no enhancement to my body or spirit. The change must be purely in my aura.’

With a thought, a wisp of Inner Strength suddenly materialized, swirling around his fingertip.

This time, he finally saw the change within him. His previously pure white Inner Strength now held a faint trace of red. It was no longer as pure as before.

’A contagious Purgatory Aura... like a fire poison?’

Lin Hui thought for a moment, then got up, pushed the door open, and hurried to the apothecary. He looked at the cages of animals he had previously gathered for testing.

He squatted down and reached out, lightly tapping the forehead of a pygmy goat. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The Inner Strength, infused with the Purgatory searing aura, merely touched the pygmy goat’s fur before pulling back.

BAA!!

Suddenly, the pygmy goat let out a high-pitched, miserable cry, as if it had been struck by some kind of extreme pain.

It sprang backward as if electrocuted, slamming hard against the back of the cage with a loud CLANG.

On its forehead, between its eyes, a blackish-red spot spread like an inkblot, rapidly dyeing its white fur the same color.

And it didn’t stop there. The pygmy goat’s skin and flesh also began to rapidly fester and char, as if its entire body were being roasted by fire.

Its wool started to curl, turning to black charcoal and falling off. Blackish-red blisters erupted on its skin, which then burst, shriveled, and were replaced by new ones in a repeating cycle.

Lin Hui stood by the cage, watching dumbfounded as the pygmy goat, as if being roasted by an invisible fire, collapsed to the ground in just ten minutes, completely dehydrated and emaciated.

But it wasn’t dead.

Instead, its eyes had turned a dark red. Its body was covered in blisters and sores, and milky-white pus dripped to the ground.

Its horns had also become sharper and pointier, and new, smaller horns grew beside them, resembling a small clump of thorny weeds.

PUFF, PUFF.

The pygmy goat stood up again. With dark red eyes and nostrils snorting sparks, it looked around irritably.

BANG!

Suddenly, it rammed its head violently against the cage, bending the iron bars.

Its strength had more than doubled!

’Is this Purgatory Transformation?’ Lin Hui stared gravely at the transformed Purgatory Goat, finally understanding what "extremely contagious" meant...

He had only lightly tapped its fur with his finger using Inner Strength infused with Purgatory Aura. He hadn’t even broken the skin, yet he had easily infected it.

’This means the reason I didn’t turn out like this must be because the Blood Seal’s evolution process removes any side effects and harm...’

’So, what should I do with this Purgatory Goat?’ Lin Hui tried reaching out again, touching the goat with Inner Strength that carried the Purgatory Aura.

Immediately, the goat’s eyes narrowed. It shuddered and slowly backed away, letting out a fearful whimper.

SQUISH.

Lin Hui’s palm, enveloped in Inner Strength, instantly closed around the pygmy goat’s head, and he squeezed hard.

The goat’s head exploded like a block of tofu, scattering fragments of bone, cerebrospinal fluid, and brain matter all over the ground.

The pygmy goat fell to the ground, dead. But strangely, its corpse quickly erupted in blackish-red flames.

The blackish-red flames leaped and squirmed.

If Lin Hui hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would have found it hard to believe that fire could actually squirm, twisting as if it were alive.

The next second, he saw the blackish-red flames lunge at him. They were so fast that before he could react, they had all surged into his exposed skin—his face, hands, and neck—and vanished.

An indescribable feeling of pleasure flooded Lin Hui’s mind, making him moan involuntarily.

He could feel his Inner Strength increasing and his body being strengthened. The Purgatory-black fire seemed to be calcining the impurities within him, purging the accumulated toxins and latent injuries.

The large amount of medicinal toxins that had built up from taking too many drugs recently were instantly purified, and the feeling of discomfort vanished.

Lin Hui raised his hand and saw a new, translucent keratin layer had clearly formed on his skin.

His ears felt a bit itchy. He reached up to touch them and discovered a hard keratin layer had also grown over their surface. Even the weak point of his ear canals was now covered by this keratin. Two layers of it overlapped like a pair of doors, completely sealing the openings.

’So this is Purgatory’s contagion... It’s a bit twisted... You infect a creature, and when that creature is killed, you gain its power... I just wonder if there’s a limit to how much power can be acquired. If there’s no limit...’ Lin Hui could already imagine how the creatures in Purgatory slaughtered and devoured one another.

Looking at the pygmy goat’s corpse, the blackish-red Purgatory flames had now completely poured into his body.

Lin Hui noticed that the goat’s corpse had lost its Purgatory-creature characteristics and had become nothing more than a charred carcass.

But upon closer inspection, he could see traces of the pus that had dripped onto the ground beneath the carcass. These traces still gave off a faint sulfuric smell.

’This kind of contagion is hard to conceal. It seems I can’t use it casually unless absolutely necessary. I’ll have to slowly uncover more of Purgatory’s properties later.’

By evolving the lamb skewer, he had obtained the properties of a Purgatory creature. Lin Hui’s anticipation for evolving other things with the Blood Seal grew even stronger.

He recalled the other things he had tested for evolution before.

’Right, there’s also this.’

He completely incinerated the goat, cleaned up the traces, and walked out of the room, looking around the mansion’s courtyard.

A disciple on guard duty hurried forward to ask.

"Observatory Master, do you have any orders?"

"It’s nothing. Go on about your business."

Lin Hui said with a wave of his hand.

After the disciple left, he looked around to make sure no one was there before he started to wander slowly through the courtyard.

It was still around ten in the morning.

In the courtyard was an oval-shaped pool built by the previous owner, Song Zhanlong. It was lined with smooth white stones, and a few steps had been built into the edge so people could get in and sit.

Song Zhanlong had built it to play water games with the women of the mansion.

Lin Hui walked to the edge of the pool and looked at the crystal-clear water inside.

’Since the Blood Seal can even evolve intangible skills, what about this pool of water? Can it be evolved into a special resource that would help my cultivation?’

He pondered for a moment and decided it was worth a try.

He immediately squatted down and reached out a hand, lightly touching the surface of the pool.

The Blood Seal could evolve things from a distance, but he felt more at ease touching it directly.

The Blood Seal’s information quickly appeared at the bottom of his vision.

’Pool Water: Ordinary lake water. Quality: Normal. Suitable for quenching thirst and consumption. 3 evolution paths available.’

’1 - Ultra-Pure Water.’

’2 - Spring of Longevity.’

’3 - Waterman.’

"..." Lin Hui knew it. That last option was never going to be absent.

As for the first two, he tapped them to take a look.

’Ultra-Pure Water: A stream of highly purified water with extremely few impurities. Meets daily safe consumption requirements.’

’Spring of Longevity: A spring water that, after long-term consumption, can extend one’s lifespan by a very small amount.’

Neither of these met his needs, so he didn’t hesitate.

He directly chose the third option, which only required half a year, and confirmed his choice.