The body of the giant was red, and so too were the robes he wore. It appeared almost as if he was carved from a massive piece of amber. Lin Jin’s pupils dilated at what he saw. He figured this must be Patriarch Xue Pao’s actual body.
Despite the muddled color, it was translucent enough for Lin Jin to see the silhouette of a human sitting cross-legged inside the giant’s chest.
The human donned Dao robes. His eyes were closed, and there were no signs of breathing, so he was probably dead. Even so, the corpse continued to emit faint traces of immortal energy.
After seeing this, Lin Jin knew that some of the things Patriarch Xue Pao said had been the truth.
Patriarch Xue Pao was not lying when he said an immortal’s corpse had been embedded inside his body. Had he not gone into hiding, the aura would overflow and that would surely attract the immortal devouring beast.
It was no wonder Patriarch Xue Pao remained hidden deep inside this cave system.
Patriarch Xue Pao’s psyche floated up to its original body but was forcibly pulled back by Lin Jin.
“Curator, what are you doing?” Patriarch Xue Pao’s voice grew increasingly anxious. This psyche fragment of his was quite precious, so he wanted to keep it intact.
What’s more, now that they were at his turf, his psyche was much stronger than before.
“There’s no hurry. I prefer seeing you in this form. I might not be able to get used to you if you returned to your body,” said Curator smilingly without a care for what Patriarch Xue Pao wanted.
Then, he stepped forward. With a flick of his fingers, a Psyche-Refining Needle shot right into the giant’s body.
In an instant, Patriarch Xue Pao’s information was recorded in the museum.
Unlike his clone, this was information on the actual being.
As Lin Jin read, he mused, ‘Great Scott!’
Just as he expected, Patriarch Xue Pao was a Rank 7 monster.
Before this discovery, Lin Jin had a rough estimate of Patriarch Xue Pao’s strength. Since he was able to trigger a worldwide calamity, his strength was not to be underestimated. That was why Lin Jin thought he had to be at least Rank 6 and above.
Sure enough, Patriarch Xue Pao was a Rank 7.
How dangerous.
Lin Jin glanced at the immortal corpse inside Patriarch Xue Pao’s body and thought, ‘I really gotta thank this guy for subduing him. Otherwise, if Patriarch Xue Pao was allowed to roam free in the world, rivers of blood would flow through the landscape.’
No one in the current world could even stand a chance against him.
One thousand years ago, they still had an immortal corpse to rely on. Now, they had nothing to fend off Patriarch Xue Pao, let alone contain him.
As Lin Jin pondered, he decided that this immortal corpse inside Patriarch Xue Pao’s body shouldn’t be removed no matter what.
In fact, after seeing the museum’s evaluation of Patriarch Xue Pao, Lin Jin felt a great sense of danger.
In his previous encounter with the Rank 9 immortal devouring beast, it had only been a passing danger. So long as he didn’t turn into an immortal, the immortal devouring beast would not attack him.
Patriarch Xue Pao was different.
This Rank 7 monster was now alive and well. In comparison, Lin Jin only had two Rank 5 pet beasts, and that clearly wasn’t enough.
‘This won’t do. Xiao Huo and the blood ghost have to be promoted. They must reach at least Rank 6,’ thought Lin Jin as he gritted his teeth. Though, he had no time for that now.
Thanks to his mask, no one could read Curator’s expression. That was the perk of having a mask. To outsiders, he would appear composed and mysterious no matter when you looked at him.
“Curator, this is my actual body. You can see the immortal corpse too. It has a restriction spell on it that I can’t undo, so I’m hoping you could assist me,” said Patriarch Xue Pao.
As he spoke, the hand of that blood giant opened slightly to unleash a bright flash. Patriarch Xue Pao had been keeping an amazing magic treasure inside his fist
“Curator, if you can help me, this magic treasure is yours,” offered Patriarch Xue Pao. Lin Jin stared at the golden seal hidden inside Patriarch Xue Pao’s hand.
The seal was crafted from actual pure gold. The top part of the seal was a Kirin beast, and the bottom was a square-shaped chop seal.
The fact that it glowed so brightly meant that it was anything but ordinary.
“This is a Kirin Mountain Seal, an artifact from the immortals’ era that possesses incredible powers. Curator can take this away as my token of appreciation after the deed is done.” Patriarch Xue Pao spoke with great reluctance as if this magic treasure meant a lot to him.
When Lin Jin tried taking another glance at it, Patriarch Xue Pao’s hand closed up, as if to indicate that treasures shouldn’t be shown to others that easily.
Admittedly, an immortal’s magic treasure was quite a tempting offer.
However, Lin Jin wasn’t an ignorant man. He already owned two magic treasures. No, perhaps it was more accurate to say three magic treasures.
The Immortal Binding Rope, the Four Ocean Gourd, and the Clear Wind Sword.
Hence, Lin Jin wasn’t particularly interested in the Kirin Mountain Seal.
Moreover, Lin Jin was sure that even if he helped Patriarch Xue Pao remove the immortal corpse, that man would go back on his promise immediately.
What’s more, he never planned on releasing Patriarch Xue Pao anyway.
So what if he was a Rank 7 monster?
If he was capable enough, he would have been wreaking havoc in the world by now. Hence, when better to destroy him than now?
Flipping his hand over, needles of various sizes now sat in Lin Jin’s palm.
One of them was the Thunderfire Needle Lin Jin had crafted himself.
Many of the magic treasures and artifacts he owned had been obtained during lucky encounters. Only a handful of them was personally crafted by his hands, and the Thunderfire Needle was one of them.
This was the strongest magic artifact Lin Jin had crafted thus far.
Refined by divine lightning, it possessed astonishing strength.
Now that Lin Jin’s mastery of the Body-Recast Psyche-Refining Needle was at a satisfactory level, the Thunderfire Needle’s effects were further enhanced. Now that the immortal corpse inside the blood giant was the key, the body had to be investigated. Lin Jin planned to examine it with his Thunderfire Needle.
With a flick of his fingers, all needles, including the Thunderfire Needle, penetrated the blood giant’s body. They slowly closed in on the immortal’s corpse.
Patriarch Xue Pao watched anxiously but there was an unmistakable hint of hostility in his eyes.
Finally, the needles touched the immortal corpse. Lin Jin’s expression faltered.
“How is it, Curator?” Patriarch Xue Pao asked anxiously.
Lin Jin stayed silent.
Moments later, Lin Jin sighed and shook his head. “To be honest, there’s a powerful restrictive layer around this immortal corpse that even I can’t get rid of.”
Patriarch Xue Pao was visibly disappointed to hear this.
“You really have no other ideas?” Patriarch Xue Pao asked. Lin Jin shook his head.
“No. This restriction spell is too overwhelming and I think neither you nor I am capable of moving this corpse.”
Lin Jin sounded so resolute this time so Patriarch Xue Pao fell silent.
Clearly, this wasn’t good news for him.
A short while later, Patriarch Xue Pao sighed. “This must be fate then. Alright, I’ll accept it.”
Then, he turned to Curator. This time, the friendliness in Patriarch Xue Pao’s eyes had faded. In its place was pure hostility.
“Since you can’t help me, there’s no reason for me to keep you around!”
A strange occurrence ensued.
Sharp energy descended from above, aiming at Lin Jin’s head. Simultaneously, numerous dried limbs reached out of the ground and grabbed his legs.
In an instant, Lin Jin’s life was in danger.
