readsfreenovel Chapter 231 - 139: Taotie’s Upgrade, Shadow Scale Max Level
Chapter 231 - 139: Taotie’s Upgrade, Shadow Scale Max Level
"Good luck."
Lin Ye nodded.
He strode into the gloomy forest without hesitation.
The moment he was completely swallowed by the darkness, a cold system notification suddenly rang in his mind.
[Ding! The system has detected that the host is proactively exploring a high-risk, unknown region. A one-time side quest has been issued!]
[Quest Name: The Black Silk Mystery]
[Quest Objective: Investigate the ecological anomaly in the Black Silk Forest and defeat the culprit behind it.]
[Quest Rewards: 30,000 Experience Points, 3 Skill Points!]
[Special Reward: Your Taotie ability will be upgraded! The probability of acquiring racial traits and skills via Taotie will be permanently increased. Furthermore, upon killing any member of the Celestial Abyss Race, the Taotie ability will trigger automatically, removing the need to devour their cores!]
Lin Ye stopped dead in his tracks.
A look of irrepressible joy spread across his face.
He had originally asked to explore this forest simply to grind levels and strengthen his new skills; he never expected any extra rewards.
Yet here the system was, practically forcing one on him.
Thirty thousand experience points and three skill points were already a hefty reward.
But what truly excited him was the special reward at the end!
’An increased probability for Taotie to capture traits and skills!’
’And the Taotie ability will trigger automatically on a kill!’
’This meant he no longer had to suppress his revulsion to touch, or even devour, the grotesque body tissues of the Celestial Abyss Race!’
’This reward is priceless!’
The moment Lin Ye stepped into the forest, the light was completely cut off.
The world fell into a dead silence.
A cold, damp air, thick with the stench of decay, filled his nostrils.
It was a unique odor, born from countless layers of withered branches, fallen leaves, and carcasses, all left to decompose in the darkness over the ages.
Towering, ancient trees twisted toward the sky, their branches gnarled and deformed as if frozen in a silent struggle.
But they were long dead.
The canopies, which should have been lush and green, were now completely cocooned in layer upon layer of dense black filaments, forming a colossal web that blotted out the sky.
The forest interior was as dark as an eternal night.
Visibility was extremely low.
Aside from the stench of decay, another scent Lin Ye knew well permeated the air.
It was the distinct scent of Source Crystals.
He continued walking deeper into the forest.
The surroundings were eerily silent; the thick layer of humus on the ground muffled his footsteps perfectly.
There were no chirping insects, no calling birds, not even the sound of the wind.
In its own way, the absolute silence was oppressive.
After venturing about ten kilometers deeper into the forest, Lin Ye stopped.
Before him, a winding Source Crystal Vein lay exposed on the surface, like an ugly scar.
A faint blue light flickered intermittently along the vein—Source Crystals, one of the goals of his trip.
However, the entire vein was covered in a massive quantity of fine black filaments.
Like greedy parasitic vines, these filaments had wrapped the Source Crystals completely.
Lin Ye strode forward. With a mere thought, pitch-black scales rapidly grew and interlocked on the back of his right hand, completely encasing it.
He reached out with his hand, now encased in Shadow Scale, and brushed aside the black filaments coiled around a Source Crystal.
They felt tough and cold to the touch, like iron wire.
Even with his current strength, it took some effort to snap them.
Lin Ye couldn’t tell if it was plant tissue or part of some creature.
He noticed that the ends of many filaments had burrowed deep inside the Source Crystals.
The faint blue glow of the Source Crystals infested by the filaments was noticeably dimmer; the energy within them was being steadily siphoned away.
’These filaments are alive.’
’And they feed on the energy from the Source Crystals.’
A theory formed in Lin Ye’s mind.
’Perhaps there’s a colossal creature in this forest, one whose body is composed of these filaments—a terrifying being that treats the entire forest as its nest and hunting ground.’
He no longer hesitated.
A sharp glint of power flared from his Star-Piercing Spear.
ZZT! ZZT! ZZT!
A blur of spear strikes flashed, and the tough filaments coiled around the vein were sliced away in great swathes.
Soon, the entire Source Crystal Vein was cleared, once again exposed to the dim air.
Without a hint of ceremony, Lin Ye used the tip of his spear as the sharpest of pickaxes, stabbing it deep into the vein.
He pried with the shaft, digging out several head-sized Source Crystals of excellent quality and purity.
The deeper Source Crystals were untouched by the filaments, their energy full and potent.
Lin Ye grabbed one and immediately began to extract its source energy.
A frenzied and primal torrent of energy instantly surged through his entire body.
His vast Qi and Blood began to boil once more, growing ever more condensed with each successive wave of energy that washed over and compressed it.
Meanwhile, another, completely different type of energy flowed silently into his body and vanished, like a stream finding its way back to the river.
Lin Ye knew this portion of the energy was being used to strengthen his Shadow Scale.
He could clearly feel the invisible scales on his skin undergoing a fundamental transformation.
「Ten minutes or so later.」
Lin Ye had devoured the entire Source Crystal Vein, leaving nothing behind.
He closed his eyes, carefully sensing the changes within his body.
His Shadow Scale ability had been massively strengthened.
Lin Ye could feel that it was nearing its limit, almost reaching the same level of strength as his Crystalization ability.
At that exact moment.