The Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent watched the little cub grow considerably, feeling very satisfied. "It seems the outside world is indeed more conducive to your growth."
Tang Sui smiled, "After all, pressure makes people grow."
"By the way, where is Old Bat? I sensed his aura disappear within the Slaughter City before. Did he go out looking for you?" the Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent guessed.
It was well aware of the King of Slaughter's situation. Unless absolutely necessary, that individual would never step out of the Slaughter City while risking backlash.
Mentioning the King of Slaughter, the smile in Tang Sui's eyes vanished. Her fair and delicate little face clouded over with sadness. Closing her eyes, she willed it, and Tang Chen, encased in a barrier of demonic energy, appeared within the scorching lava.
Also appearing was the soul, the Bat Wings, radiating a dark blue luminescence, held in Tang Sui's palm.
Sensing a familiar aura from the small object, the Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent shuddered. A terrifying killing intent and rage erupted instantly. The quiet, flowing lava around them seemed to boil like scalding water, bubbling furiously due to the Serpent's angry emotions.
"Who!!!"
The killing intent emanating from the Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent precisely avoided Tang Sui. Feeling no pressure, Tang Sui opened her eyes and calmly explained the entire sequence of events to the Serpent.
Now that the Bat Wings had returned to its original soul form, and the only "container eye" was sealed by her demonic energy barrier, it had lost all senses of its surroundings. Even "He" could no longer restrict or monitor this place. There was nothing that couldn't be said.
Well, of course, the matter of faith still required subtlety.
From shock to grief, then to boundless killing intent, and finally settling into solemnity, the Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent's massive serpentine eyes flickered. After a long while, it raised its snout, propped itself up, and looked at the churning lava around them, exhaling a deep breath that made the lava surge.
"Whether in the past or in the future, the demon race has never been chosen by fate..." its voice was filled with profound grief and indignation.
Throughout history, the demon race had always been a discarded and suppressed existence.
Tang Sui closed her eyes, tacitly agreeing with the Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent's words.
A flash of blood-red liquid crossed its eyes. The Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent lowered its head, looking at the cub holding the soul, its voice deep. "Old Bat... it can be considered a breaking of the old to establish the new... but since she said this, it means she likely anticipated this day long ago, sacrificing herself to pave the way for you, indirectly assisting you in walking the true great path."
"But are you prepared for a difficult battle?"
To fight against heaven, to wrestle with fate, the process would inevitably be arduous. A moment's carelessness could lead to eternal damnation.
This was also cruel to Tang Sui, who had finally managed to live until today and was even connected to the child of destiny.
It cruelly stripped away the future she could have had, sailing smoothly on the winds of the child of destiny.
Because once she accepted, an arduous future, shrouded in thorns and with no clear direction or end, awaited her.
Tang Sui opened her eyes. Something deeper seemed to be suppressed within her gaze. She said in an extremely soft voice, "I am already immersed in the mist of this endless night."
The Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent's body trembled again. It looked at the pessimistic little cub with an indescribably complex gaze. "You..."
Before it could even utter a word, a faint ripple suddenly spread through the space around Tang Sui. As she paused and the Serpent's pupils constricted, the eyes of the four masks simultaneously lit up.
The Fox Mask's delicate voice echoed, "There truly is no guiding lighthouse around you."
The Ape Mask stated coldly, "Nor can you discern the correct direction."
The Big Fei laughed heartily, "You only have yourself!"
The God of Fortune gently added, "And a lamp."
The masks' voices overlapped and echoed in her mind. Tang Sui paused, hearing the system's final pronouncement:
"Though I cannot be your guide, I can be the lamp in your hand, and witness your path with you."
There was indeed no guiding lighthouse around her or within her sight. Only by holding a lamp to illuminate herself would the direction of progress be found beneath her feet.
Tang Sui's tightly strung nerves suddenly snapped.
She suddenly started laughing, a smile filled with a sense of relief and enlightenment. A special energy wave rippled outward from her body, and something began to loosen within her.
The Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent uttered an "Eh?" and watched as the soul, which Tang Sui had been holding obediently in her palm, suddenly floated up and resonated with Tang Sui, who had fallen into enlightenment.
The fusion of souls began!
The Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent swiftly coiled its tail around Tang Chen, who was floating slightly behind Tang Sui, moving him further away.
Tang Sui's vision was suddenly painted crimson. She slowly blinked her eyes. A sticky, moist sensation enveloped her entire body, as if she had been immersed in a pool of blood.
Blood mist swirled, and in a daze, Tang Sui met six vertical pupils glowing with scarlet blood.
Dark, black bat wings spread out, and three massive bat heads roared towards the sky.
The ferocious beastly shadow continuously shifted in Tang Sui's eyes, finally transforming into a woman with bat wings on her back, wearing a white robe with red trim, and long, ink-blue hair.
Tang Sui's pupils trembled, her lips moved, and a faint, inaudible sound escaped her lips, which the woman clearly heard.
Tang Sui uttered the word "Grandmother."
The woman smiled. The blood-red vertical pupils, unlike those of a human, flickered with pleasure. Her hoarse female voice mixed with a low chuckle, "So, didn't I tell you, little one, you don't need to be sad for me?"
The woman raised her slender arms. Her long, cold fingertips touched Tang Sui's cheek, where tears had inexplicably fallen. Her blood-red vertical pupils clearly reflected her image. Her voice, almost a whisper, drifted into Tang Sui's ears—
"Now, are you ready to accept the power?"
Although phrased as a question, it sounded more like a declaration.
"BOOM—!"
Beneath the lava, under the gaze of the Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent, Tang Sui's petite and delicate body, with her eyes tightly shut, suddenly erupted with unimaginable power. In an instant, it formed a colossal airflow, churning the lava in all directions.
The Ten-Headed Blazing Sun Serpent knew that the fusion had begun.
"Crack!"
A strange sound reached her increasingly blurry ears.
It was like the shattering of profound ice, with restraints breaking apart inch by inch, finally turning into the shriek of a fierce beast, as if it had finally broken free from its cage. The blood flowing within her accelerated, akin to the surging lava around them.
Amidst the rapidly flowing blood, her temperature was decreasing, yet Tang Sui felt as if she were being scorched by flames, her entire blood boiling with a burning sensation.
As the surrounding blood mist continuously surged into Tang Sui's body, her pale face, contorted by the extreme pain and the alternating torture of ice and fire, gradually regained a touch of rosy color.
In addition, her still fair skin seemed to radiate a lustrous glow that flowed quietly over her body, as if the bat had absorbed enough blood and assimilated its energy, transforming it into its own power, its own life, exuding a bizarre beauty.
But conversely, Tang Sui's blood was gradually becoming cooler, no longer possessing the warmth of a human.
—Author's Note—
In another sense, "I pamper myself" can also be the happy group pet (?)
The original concept was: Other people's cheat is a real system, my cheat is I pamper myself √
Then Mo Li's good friend said: Good heavens, this little contraption has a bit of a cheat.
See you tomorrow~