Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Reduction drug?” Li Yao chewed on the name. “What will it reduce?”

“Reduce the genes to their original appearance,” the Fire Ant King said calmly. “Our training methodology highlights the build-up and modification on genes directly, but the gene strands and cells are a precise whole. One moment of carelessness or distraction, and the gene strands might be overly stimulated, resulting in the collapse of cells and terrible consequences that follow.

“The organization of Chaos possesses various secret techniques to refine genes and all kinds of bizarre viruses that are extremely dangerous.

“Just now, in the Mausoleum of Chaos, one of my subordinates was accidentally scratched by the claw of a dead body. Although the wound was as thin as hair and it was not even bleeding, the weird virus still snuck into his body and overly stimulated his cells!”

Li Yao frowned. “What will happen if the cells are overly stimulated?”

“Imagine you are a general and the cells and genes all over your body are your soldiers,” the Fire Ant King said coldly. “Under normal circumstances, you would want to slightly stimulate the soldiers, to make them more hotblooded, excited, and fearless, so that their combat ability be significantly boosted.

“You would even want some of the ‘soldiers’ to mutate and grow into captains, centurions, and even chiliarches quickly, wouldn’t you?

“However, if you overly stimulate them and all the ‘soldiers’ are caught in delirium, refusing to listen to your command at all, what will happen?

“Your ‘army’ will collapse and retrograde into lawless, murderous bandits who will soon be killed by their own insanity.

“It is exactly so for the excessive stimulation of cells. The cells will go out of control and act on their own. They will exploit all the energy inside your body and rage like a volcanic eruption. Sometimes, even when the master is dead, the cells remain alive and attack those around them out of natural instincts!”

“The master is dead while the cells are still alive?”

Li Yao was greatly alarmed.

“Exactly,” the Fire Ant King said. “Individuals in such a state cannot be called ‘corpses’; they are amalgamations of cells, or to put it more accurately, the amalgamations of hungry, crazy cells!

“Their only instinct is to proliferate, expand, and infect. All the living creatures around them will be their targets. By biting the victims, they spread out the craziness as far away as possible!”

Li Yao gasped. “And the reduction drug can suppress the cell mutations?”

“Yes,” the Fire Ant King said. “The reduction drug can reduce the overly stimulated genes to their original status and pacify the simmering cells. Therefore, it is the antidote for all kinds of genetic mutations.

“To make poison, one must prepare an antidote first. Since the organization of Chaos was running a large-scale research center in this place, they were naturally prepared for the loss of control of the virus and its infection. The Reduction drugs had been produced in advance in case of such emergencies.

“I knew that we would run into a lot of unexpected dangers during the exploration of the Mausoleum of Chaos. Should anybody come into contact with the virus, only the reduction drug would be able to save their life. That was why I tried my best to steal the reduction drug from Nether Spring’s laboratory. However, it was looted half way through the transportation.”

Li Yao’s eyes were glittering. “How much of the reduction drug is there?”

“As far as I know, there is only one bottle,” the Fire Ant King said. “However, Nether Spring seems to have been working on the synthesized reduction drug, although I don’t know his progress. The good thing is, though, one gram of the reduction drug is enough to soothe simmer cells in most cases.

Li Yao thought for a moment and spoke again. “What if… somebody absorbs an entire bottle of reduction drug?”

The Fire Ant King blinked and moved his demonic energy as he said slowly, “Their cells and genes will be completely restored to the original appearance. If a demon has an excessive dosage, they will probably turn into a human being… just like you.”

If he were not in the darkness of dead silence, Li Yao would have let out an exclamation. Yet, he showed no response on the surface and shook Neltharion calmly. “What do you mean?”

The Fire Ant King still appeared to be a burnt trunk, but Li Yao had felt his sense of satisfaction because he was taking over the situation through the shivering demonic energy. “I’ve been curious since the very beginning. Even though you are an expert in the demon emperor stage, how could Nether Spring not have noticed you?

“But now, I’ve finally figured out that, although Elder Nether Spring was cautious enough to search for the spreading demonic energy nearby, it was not demonic energy but extremely feeble spiritual waves that you released.

“No wonder Nether Spring overlooked you!

“Although I cannot see the real appearance of the magical equipment, it is now enveloped in my demonic energy, which allows me to feel its every detail.

“The general shape and refining style of the magical equipment are similar to those of crystal warships of human beings and nowhere close to the fashion of the demon race. The shell that looks like dragon scales is clearly the distinctive feature of the Star Ocean Imperium ten thousand years ago.

“If my guess is correct, it must be a piece of training magical equipment, isn’t it?

“Although I can’t tell its specific model, it is doubtlessly a certain multipurpose exploration starship of the Star Ocean Imperium!”

Li Yao was not moved. He said coldly, “A piece of magical equipment from the Star Ocean Imperium, even if it is, cannot prove that I am a human being. Too many demons are using the magical equipment from mankind.”

“Indeed.”

After a moment’s thought, the Fire Ant King said slowly. “Magical equipment of mankind can be used by demons, too. But your manipulation over the training starship is so marvelous that you are spinning the turrets and the stabilizer fins as if they are your fingers, which is certainly not doable for anybody. You must’ve received the highest control permissions of the training starship.

“Demons were the mortal enemies of mankind in the Star Ocean Imperium. There is no way that a training starship of the Star Ocean Imperium would allow a demon to get the highest clearances.

“Besides, impressive as your skills might be, you barely knew anything about the basic concepts that I intentionally threw out to you a moment ago, and you simply kept asking me. All things considered, I don’t have a second guess on your identity now.”

Li Yao secretly spat. The Fire Ant King’s mediocre performance during his fight against Elder Nether Spring had misled him and made him underestimate the master of Void Turmoil City subconsciously. He did not notice the traps at all!

The demonic energy of the Fire Ant King was still shivering. “See? The exchange of information is always bidirectional. Those who seem to be raising questions are sometimes offering answers without them knowing.

“It’s getting more and more interesting now. A human expert has successfully snuck into the Blood Demon Sector and even joined the exploration of the Mausoleum of Chaos. What is it that you and the force that you represent want?”

Li Yao neither acknowledged his identity nor denied it. Taking a long breath, he asked the most important question for him. “According to you, the Divine Blood of Chaos can ‘reduce’ demons into human beings, which means that the same-origin theory is correct. Demons used to be human beings, or rather, they are mutations of human beings, right?”

“Yes,” the Fire Ant King admitted frankly. “The demon did not evolve from demon beasts; we are mutations of human beings. That is the conclusion that I’ve made after decades of research. Nether Spring must’ve drawn a similar conclusion, too.”

Li Yao’s head was dizzy. The turrets and stabilizer fines of Neltharion shivered rapidly. “Why?”

“I would like to know the reason, too,” the Fire Ant King replied. “That’s why I came to this place, to look for an answer.”

“Do the members of the Blade of Chaos know the truth?” Li Yao asked again.

The Fire Ant King rolled his grey eyes and said, “Not yet. I planned to publicize the truth to everybody after we excavated the sacred body of God Chaos and found the answer to the mutation tens of thousands years ago.”

Li Yao took a long breath and asked, “If demons are really mutations of human beings, and everybody is the same species, I don’t see any reason why the Blood Demon Sector and the Heaven’s Origin Sector must start a war that will destroy both worlds.”

With a hint of mockery in his eyes, the Fire Ant King replied casually, “It is exactly because we are the same species, and we need air, water, land, minerals and other resources at the same time, that a war will break out.

“If demons are really ‘demons’, a completely different life form different from mankind that feasts upon rocks or electromagnetic waves, a war will be highly unnecessary.”

Li Yao was lost for words. He pondered for a moment and asked, “Will the Blade of Chaos stand against the Star Glory Federation?”

With a bitter smile, the Fire Ant King asked back, “Is the Blade of Chaos qualified to stand against the Star Glory Federation?”

The answer was not within Li Yao’s expectation. But on second thought, it was quite right. Whatever the Fire Ant King was thinking now, the Blade of Chaos barely had any strength left right now.

“Alright!” Li Yao said. “I can save you, on the condition that you tell me everything you know, especially the information regarding the Mausoleum of Chaos. Then, we will discuss how we can better take advantage of Elder Nether Spring!”

Their conversation was conducted through the shivering demonic energy and the turning turrets. Every word required dozens of times shivers and turns.

Besides, the Fire Ant King was tied up by highly-sensitive synthesize nerves and, therefore, did not dare to shiver greatly at all. The speed of communication was extremely low.

The dialogue just now seemed to be witty and brief, but it actually took them quite a few hours.

Thankfully, Elder Nether Spring and the Nether World Watch were too busy excavating and exploring the Mausoleum of Chaos to care about his dear brother. The two of them had plenty of time to talk with each other freely.

However, after almost twenty hours of communication, they seemed to be running out of luck—tremendous demonic energy approached the tusk cage.

“It’s Nether Spring!”

The Fire Ant King immediately stopped shivering his demonic energy.

His heart palpitating, Li Yao steered Neltharion to hide behind the Fire Ant King’s back.

CRACK!

The tusk cage slowly opened like a bloody mouth. Elder Nether Spring lowered his head and crawled in. The white, cold tusks closed behind him one after another, not leaving the tiniest gap.

Elder Nether Spring was wearing a satisfied expression, indicating that he had come back with loads of trophies. With such a smile, he stared at his blood brother, whom he had risked his life rescuing, with glamorous colors in his eyes. There was no telling what was on his mind.

But the Fire Ant King suddenly burst out!