Super Gene

The emperor frowned. Then he interlocked the fingers of both hands to form some sort of dome around a new flame he was conjuring.

With great fervor, he unleashed another fireborne punch at the drum. The power used was frightening, but the sound emitted by the drum was even quieter than the first time he had hit it.

The emperor hit the drum a third time, then, to the greeting of silence. Failing to sound the drum at all, the spirit looked embarrassed and tried to avoid eye-contact with the feverish crowd that had gathered to watch the proceedings.

Han Sen was surprised. The emperor had ten open gene locks, and he had thrown a punch carried by terrible fire; why could he not sound the drum?

After this emperor, a few other emperors decided to give the drum a few shots of their own. They all failed to make any sound worth noting. Even a few super creatures were giving it a go, but most of them lacked the ability to play the drum, same as the rest.

But then came one super creature that managed to hit the drum seven times, and produced seven firm acoustical sounds. This earned the creature seven baby fruits.

The super creature gobbled them all up at once, but it wasn’t lucky enough to earn the real holy baby fruit. That was something that came as a relief to those who had yet to try their hand.

Many emperors and super creatures followed, and it was startling to see that only a few were able to play the drum properly and earn themselves a reward. But Han Sen noticed the ones that could produce sound with the drum were the ones that were lacking in strength compared to the others. Whether that was by design or not, he could not tell.

With Han Sen’s Dongxuan Aura, he could read their individual strength. And it told him that the emperors with the most strength were the ones that could barely register a sound when hitting the drum.

Han Sen observed the event, but he could not establish any logical reason as to why this was.

“So, what do you think? Would you like to give it a try?” Empty Witch asked Han Sen.

Han Sen shook his head and responded, “Not many people can knock it and create a sound, but I’ll give it a go sometime later I suppose.”

Han Sen wanted to watch for a little longer. Once he figured out the trick, he believed, he’d have a greater chance of success.

“There is no skill involved. It’s all luck,” Empty Witch said, suspecting his goal. But then she went on to say, “I know you’ll succeed, though.”

“Why?” Han Sen asked.

“Lotus Empress was sure,” Empty Witch said.

Han Sen looked over at Lotus Empress, watching members of the audience step forward to try to beat the drum. By now, only ten of them had managed to successfully sound the drum seven times.

Seeing no one else eager to try, Han Sen thought now was as good a time as any to test his luck.

Han Sen was the only human attending the event.

A lot of people looked upon him with disdain, particularly so when they realized he only had nine gene locks open. Han Sen walked in front of the drum and used Jadeskin, which made his fist look like jade.

Jadeskin was much stronger than the Blood-Pulse Sutra, and he had started using it more often now.

Pang!

An explosive drumbeat reverberated across the entire plaza.

It was ear-poundingly loud, and nobody else had come remotely close to producing a sound as shocking as that.

Pang! Pang! Pang!

Han Sen kept on hitting the drum, and he hit it seven times in no time at all. If he was able to go any further, he believed he’d be kicking up one heck of a drum solo.

“Weird. I didn’t apply any special techniques, so why did everyone else seem to struggle?” Han Sen pondered the strange turn of events.

Everyone looked on Han Sen with disbelief, none too sure of what they should be thinking about the boy. He was the first being that had ever managed to hit it so loudly.

“You can now accept the fruit you earned,” Lotus Empress said.

Han Sen walked over to the pile of fruit and examined the trove, wondering which he should take. All the fruit was here, and he could select it himself and try his luck.

Han Sen wanted to find the real fruit, so he used his Dongxuan Aura to see if he could spot something the others couldn’t. His Dongxuan Sutra had nine gene locks open, so he was able to sense and observe a lot more with the aura.

When it came to detecting, analyzing, and understanding lifeforces, the Dongxuan Sutra had proved exceptional since opening nine gene locks. With the Dongxuan Aura, nothing was a hazy blur of lights anymore. Everything was like a 3D image or model for him to examine with stunning clarity in his mind.

This also included the energy flow, which he could examine with far greater depth.

Han Sen compared it to having x-ray vision goggles designed for looking at women. Others saw them dressed up all fancy, but he could see exactly what their naked bodies were like. But truthfully, it went even further than that, and Han Sen had the proficiency to examine their internal organs, even.

In the past, Han Sen wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between the fruit, and their lifeforces would practically have been indistinguishable from each other. But now, Han Sen could detect the one that looked different from the rest.

The fruit that snagged his attention possessed a lifeforce that was weaker than the rest, and what’s more, it felt human.

It wasn’t just a mere fruit. It had life inside it.

“This must be it,” Han Sen assumed.

Han Sen went forward and grabbed the fruit he determined to be the special one. After taking hold of it, though, he was suddenly overwhelmed with a most frightening feeling.

This horrible aura began to suffocate the entire shelter.

A person was descending onto the plaza, and seeing him, everyone was shocked. Even Lotus Empress was.

“This person must be quite special, for his presence to influence the dull expression on her face,” Han Sen thought to himself, as he turned to look at the scene.

Han Sen knew about this shadow, though. He was No God Emperor, the spirit who had ranked first place in Divinity’s Bout.