Inside the underground cave—
After awakening the Nine Infants (Jiuying) bloodline, Li Chang'an's beast clone underwent a drastic transformation.
Its body length instantly expanded to over thirty meters, turning it into a true giant among serpents.Each of the nine serpent heads shared a unified consciousness, yet could act independently, performing different tasks simultaneously.
Multitasking was now child's play—having nine brains meant his learning and work efficiency were multiplied several times over.His intelligence and potential had skyrocketed beyond imagination!
"Now that my bloodline has awakened, I finally have some ability to protect myself," Li Chang'an thought."It's time to leave this comfortable nest and explore the outside world. Staying holed up here will only limit my growth."
He estimated the energy within his body—it was roughly equivalent to that of a ten-thousand-year soul beast, though in actual combat his strength far exceeded that level.
With this power, he could at least protect himself within the Soul Beast Forest.And besides, he had nine lives.Even if he encountered a terrifying opponent and died, he could resurrect.With that kind of safeguard—what was there to fear?
As he twisted his massive body to leave the cavern, he quickly realized something: the passage that had once been spacious now seemed narrow and cramped for his colossal form.
After all, in his current Nine Infants form, even ignoring the nine long, snaking heads, the lower body—divided into nine powerful tails—was thick and immense, far from the slender serpent body he once had.
"If only I could make my body smaller," he thought instinctively.
And then—
In the very next moment, his enormous body began to shrink!
Like a deflating balloon, his length reduced from over thirty meters down to less than three meters—and it was still shrinking.
"What the—?! Why am I getting smaller?! Stop! Stop shrinking!"
He quickly focused his will, thinking, "That's enough! Stay this size!"
Instantly, the shrinking stopped, his body stabilizing at roughly one meter long.
"It actually stopped?"
"Could it be… I can control my own size?"
"Does the Nine Infants bloodline have this kind of ability too?"
He was utterly astonished.
This size-shifting ability hadn't appeared among the instinctive powers he gained during his awakening.He had thought that the Nine Infants bloodline only granted him control over water and fire, and the nine-life regeneration.
But clearly, this ancient, inherited Fierce Beast bloodline was far more mysterious than he had imagined.It must still hold other abilities he hadn't yet discovered.
Just like earlier, when his main body emerged from the lake and saw the world connected by countless threads—where every being, every thing, seemed bound like a puppet on invisible strings—That too must have been a latent ability of the Nine Infants.
It wasn't as obvious as controlling water and fire or resurrection, so he hadn't noticed it right away.After all, he had only just awakened the bloodline.
"Well, I'll figure it out later," he muttered. "Better to get out of this cave first."
He decided to leave the cavern—it wasn't a good place for experimentation anyway.The open world outside would be much better for testing new powers.
He twisted his thick body and slowly crawled toward the exit.
Through the long winding tunnel, he eventually emerged onto the surface.
One of his heads lifted the thick foliage covering the entrance, while the remaining eight heads scanned the surroundings—Eighteen eyes surveying in every direction, covering the entire area with no blind spots.
After confirming that there was no danger, his remaining body slid out of the tunnel.
"Let's see whether shrinking affects my strength," he thought.
He swung his long tail like a whip and struck the ground fiercely.
Boom!
The strike created a thunderous roar.
The seemingly small tail smashed a large crater into the earth, with fine cracks spreading in all directions.
"It seems that shrinking doesn't weaken my physical strength or durability."Li Chang'an sighed in relief.
He remembered reading novels in his previous life where characters who shrank became physically weaker—some were even stepped on and killed by ordinary people after shrinking.If his size-shifting ability worked like that, it would've been a disaster.
Fortunately, after testing, he found that his physical power and toughness remained completely unchanged.
"Now, how did I shrink before?"
He recalled the sensation—and suddenly his body began to expand again, inflating like a balloon.
In the blink of an eye, he was once again a thirty-meter-long behemoth.
"Since I can shrink, what if I try getting bigger?"
He focused, picturing himself growing in size.
At first, nothing happened.
Then he felt the energy within his body rapidly draining—and his massive form began to expand even further!
Within seconds, he broke past forty meters—And that still wasn't the limit.
As the energy continued to burn away, his body swelled larger and larger—until every last drop of energy was exhausted.
By then, Li Chang'an had transformed into a hundred-meter-long giant serpent!
His enormous lower body coiled into a circle, while nine long heads lifted high, scanning the surroundings.Even with just his upper body upright, he already towered over the forest canopy, his sight reaching the very tops of the trees.
Everywhere he looked was an endless sea of green.
"So shrinking doesn't consume energy," he noted."But enlarging does—and it's time-limited. Once the energy runs out, I revert back to normal."
He felt his massive body, the thick tail twitching slightly—and instantly, the ground trembled. Trees toppled in all directions, as if an earthquake had struck.
"Still, even though it consumes energy, my physical strength and toughness scale up with my size!It's not just a hollow transformation—it's real, tangible power."
"In the future, when I have more energy stored, won't I be able to grow as large as I want?Maybe even to the size of a world-serpent, coiling around the entire planet!"
The very thought sent a thrill through his heart.
This ability to grow and shrink freely was truly a divine gift—a genuine supernatural power, akin to the legendary "Heaven and Earth Manifestation" (Fatiang Xiangdi) of the ancient gods.
"I wonder… does this ability have an upper limit?"
"If it doesn't—if my size depends only on the energy I possess—then that's simply terrifying."
That would mean that, as long as he had enough power,he could grow big enough to swallow planets like candy…or even take a single bite out of half the universe.
Li Chang'an's eyes gleamed with excitement.
The future was full of endless possibilities.
A promising future indeed!
(End of Chapter)
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