"How could this happen? Will I have to fight Man Tian now?" Bian was quite distressed at the possibility, but there was nothing he could do about it for now.
Especially since the Executioners had powers that defied logic. He wasn't completely confident he could beat one by himself, at least not now.
[Geno Points Acquired: 100 Ordinary Geno Points; 100 Primitive Geno Points; 25 Mutant Geno Points; 10 Sacred Geno Points; 8 Super Geno Points.]
The refined body of the Purple Mantis King added an additional ten mutant geno points to him, bringing his tally up to twenty-five.
Bian was back in the underground tunnel and after walking for a bit, the path split in twain.
The right path which led upwards was now collapsed, but Bian could get around that.
This time around, Bian didn't head towards the Purple Meadow but turned left.
The path left branched downwards, leading Bian deeper underground.
After unleashing the Emperical Aura and still finding nothing, Bian summoned the Alabaster Tiger and mounted it, heading deeper into the tunnel.
"I really hope Man Tian's wife is not an Executioner."
Several thoughts distracted Bian but he had to put them aside for now. He focused on the path he could espy with the Emperical Aura and kept moving inwards.
After more than a day of travel, Bian encountered several more long and winding tunnels, just like the one he was travelling in.
He used his widespread senses to avoid dead ends and kept moving forward.
Another day soon passed before a shelter appeared within the range of the Emperical Aura.
Bian thought the creatures would panic over the indigo light, but they were more curious instead.
This was the sanctuary after all, strange scenes occurred every Tuesday. Although the creatures were alerted, they were far from panicking.
After his evolution to become a demigod, Bian could overlap the functions of the Dongxuan Aura with his Emperical Aura.
The only reason he would use the Dongxuan Aura instead was because it was discreet and would not light up the whole area.
"Pros and cons." Bian sighed.
From afar, he counted roughly a hundred beings in the shelter. They looked mostly human but had strange capes and large horns growing out of their heads.
The Y-shaped horns curved upwards, giving off a feeling of crushing strength like a Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle.
"Creatures?" Bian was sure they weren't spirits but he found it quite hard to know their levels.
The Emperical Aura stagnated on their skin for a good minute before penetrating their defenses.
He couldn't use it to attack, but the creatures were now more on edge once they sensed that subtle breach of privacy.
"They're not too bad. Most are mutant creatures and five are even sacred-blood."
Bian retracted the Emperical Aura and rode the Alabaster Tiger to the shelter. Even if the creatures were hostile, they couldn't force Bian to stay if he didn't want to.
More importantly, he had already seen a geno core storage, although there was no teleporter here.
Bian soon arrived at the shelter some hours after the indigo light faded.Of course, he was still very suspicious since he showed up a few hours after the indigo light appeared.
The rumbling sounds of footsteps came to greet Bian at the gate.
"Human? Who are you?"
One of the strange creatures asked. Up close, Bian could see that those capes were actually wings wrapped around their bodies.
"My name is Ken, I was just passing by and need a place to rest," Bian responded.
He couldn't just say he was there to use their geno core storage... right? That would be like going to a restaurant and telling them you only came to use the restroom.
"Ken, I am Nuigu from the Dust-Air tribe. If you only need a place to rest, you're more tham welcomed, come in."
Bian squinted his eyes, but he maintained a smile and followed Nuigu into the settlement.
'These guys are good at concealing their malice.' The onlookers mainly just looked curious, but he could tell they were hiding hatred.
For what reason? Bian didn't have a clue.
When Nuigu brought him to a room, Bian stopped the man before he left.
"Do you have a geno core storage around here? I would like to spar for a bit."
As he said so, he summoned the Edge of Ruin for Nuigu to see.
"Having a gold geno core isn't bad for a human," Nuigu laughed. He told Bian where to find the geno core storage then excused himself.
Bian sat still for a while, observing the area through the Dongxuan Aura.
Several figures had already blocked all the exits from the shelter quite discreetly. If he hadn't watched them rush there before pretending to patrol, Bian might have been deceived.
"I don't understand though, why not attack if they show such hostility?"
Bian slowly stood up and walked to the geno core storage. Someone was using it initially, but Nuigu ran there and spoke to the person before they both exited the shelter at full speed.
Both of them were sacred-blooded creatures, and they ran very fast, soon leaving the range of his Dongxuan Aura.
Bian was now sure they were up to something and that they were stalling for time.
He entered the Geno Core Storage and met Rockman again.
Bian brought out the Altering Brush to be strengthened and the same scene soon occurred again.
The Altering Brush began climbing the ranks until it reached the number one spot. A light flashed over the brush nine times as it was strengthened.
Bian didn't waste any time; he brought out the Bronze Cauldron to be accessed while also summoning the Solum Mirror.
[Silver Solum Mirror]
[Retaliation: 300/300]
[Soul Capacity: 300/300]
[Advance / Transfer]
"Transfer!"
The Solum Mirror began shaking, and fine transparent threads came out from its surface. The threads all connected to the Altering Brush, then a glow erupted on the surface of the mirror.
The glow traveled down the several threads and into the Altering Brush. Then a new counter opened up beneath the Altering Brush.
[Bronze Altering Brush]
[25/100]
"The Solum Mirror is made for dealing with souls. Do other geno cores not recognise the specific power of the mirror?"
The counter for the Altering Brush kept rising until it reached a hundred, then it stopped.
Now the brush was actually giving off a gentle glow, and Bian felt that he could advance the geno core at any time.
He tried transferring some more, but when the glow began to flow from the mirror to the brush, they seemed to hit a dead end and had to return back to the Solum Mirror.
The Bronze Cauldron meanwhile also reached the first position in the rankings, strengthening it nine times.
Then a challenge came for Bian — several challenges, actually.
It seemed he was too fast for them to challenge the Altering Brush, but they did so for the Bronze Cauldron.
Bian was quite annoyed. If he refused the challenge, the nine enhancements would be removed.
He had to begrudgingly accept one, but this was also a chance for Bian. He avoided the names like Wind-Flower Spirit or Mountain-Sitting Spirit and looked for one that would probably be a creature.
Unfortunately, there were no creatures challenging him at the time. At least killing a super creature here was easier and would nab him a life essence, but killing a spirit brought little gain.
Bian chose to evolve the Altering Brush, causing a glow to erupt from the bottom of the brush. He could barely look at the brush, and as the glow moved up, nothing really changed.
That was until it reached the metal neck of the brush, which was bronze, but when the glow passed over, it became silver.
Such a little change was barely noticeable on the brush, but Bian felt a great change within.
The sequence structure of the surrounding area became crystal clear, and Bian could simulate creatures' energy flow to a uaable degree.
The powers of the Dongxuan Sutra went up a level, and the radius of the Dongxuan Aura increased rapidly to more than a kilometer.
It was quite an upgrade, but compared to the Emperical Aura which spanned over a hundred kilometers, Bian found it a bit lacking.
He masked his presence and accepted a challenge from a fellow called Black Wind Spirit, who hailed from Sacred.
Because Bian wasn't so safe where he was, he immediately rushed at the spirit when the battle began right after blinding his senses.