Chapter 372 – God of Zhongshan: The Candle Dragon

“Roar!”

Mu Lin’s advancement began first with his physical body.

And the most fundamental, most primal ability of Mu Lin’s physical cultivation method was the Blackwater Profound Serpent Mortal Shedding Art, an Earth Grade lower-tier Cultivation Method that Mu Lin had found in the Anping Dao Palace Library.

As a common cultivation method, its grade was not high. However, after several upgrades and transformations by Mu Lin, it had undergone earth-shaking changes.

Its first change was from serpent to flood dragon; the second change was nine moltings, granting the potential to transform from flood dragon to dragon.

The third change occurred after Mu Lin obtained the Crimson Holy Grail—by continuously refining his blood, he could become a True Dragon.

It was from that time onward that Mu Lin conceived the idea of combining his various abilities to transform his physical body into a Candle Dragon Body.

The god of Zhong Mountain is named Zhuyin. When he opens his eyes, it is day; when he closes them, it is night. When he blows, it is winter; when he exhales, it is summer. He does not drink, does not eat, does not breathe, and when he breathes, it becomes wind. His body is a thousand li long.

The above describes the three transformations of Mu Lin’s Blackwater Profound Serpent Mortal Shedding Art… and then yesterday, Mu Lin welcomed the fourth transformation.

The integration of the Ouroboros and the profound meaning of the tail-biting cycle caused Mu Lin’s Candle Dragon Body to no longer resemble a dragon but more like a serpent.

A human face and serpent body.

Moreover, Mu Lin’s serpent was one with head and tail connected, coiled together.

“Shedding the Dragon Body to be reborn as a serpent? I never imagined that after all this turning, I would return to the origin…”

In his contemplation, Mu Lin… did not feel sorrowful.

Although among ordinary beings, serpents are inferior to True Dragons,

at the highest levels of power, the strength of serpents is in no way inferior to that of dragons.

Dragons have their progenitors: the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, the Ying Dragon. Serpents also have Nuwa, who controls the power of Creation of Life; Houtu, who governs the cycle of reincarnation; and the Ouroboros, which can give rise to world creation.

“Calculated this way, the status of serpents is even higher than that of dragons.”

“Moreover, if we trace back to the origins, in many places, dragons originally evolved from serpents…”

Since he was not a natural-born dragon or serpent, Mu Lin did not overly concern himself with which was the original source between serpents and dragons.

After merely sighing with emotion, he shifted his focus to his own advancement.

“Hiss!”

During the advancement of Mortal Shedding and the shedding of the mortal shell, Mu Lin’s Profound Yellow Qi and the numerous abilities he had mastered all merged into his physical body.

And how vast was the energy Mu Lin controlled? How many laws had he comprehended?

When all these things were fused into one, Mu Lin’s body grew wildly.

And because Mu Lin had now taken the form of a human face and serpent body, he did not become like a giant; instead, his body continuously lengthened.

Seventy meters, eighty meters, ninety meters, one hundred, three hundred, five hundred, seven hundred, one thousand…

In an extremely short time, Mu Lin’s body reached a full eleven kilometers in length.

Yes, eleven kilometers.

This massive body bestowed upon Mu Lin an endless sense of power.

At this moment, Mu Lin even felt that with his physical body alone, he could crush a great mountain.

“Such formidable power… this is the benefit of a solid foundation. Without the three hundred and sixty-five portions of Gang and Sha Qi, I would never have been able to possess an eleven-kilometer-long body upon advancing to Mortal Shedding.”

And besides pure strength, Mu Lin’s various abilities had also integrated into his body, imbuing it with inherent divine wonders.

Like the abilities of twilight, life-death, and illusion-destruction from the Twilight Illusion Life-Death Array, all merged into Mu Lin’s eyes, granting him the power to see as day and close as night. He could even kill someone with a single glare or cause them to sink into utter oblivion.

Similarly, the Hell Karma Map transformed into a Dragon Pearl, held in the mouth of Mu Lin’s human face and serpent body.

Moreover, Mu Lin’s True Spirit Karma Diagram had already evolved into a Secret Realm world due to the Primordial Yellow Qi, making the Dragon Pearl a small world in itself. By striking someone with this Dragon Pearl, Mu Lin could cause mountains to crumble and the earth to sink.

In addition, Mu Lin’s other abilities, such as the Flame of Command and Domination, also merged into the Candle Dragon’s status, making the Candle Dragon a natural-born ruler capable of commanding countless people.

Of course, Mu Lin didn’t care much about this identity.

Furthermore, the innate ability to control water transformed into patterns and merged into Mu Lin’s skin—now, anyone with keen spiritual perception could gain insights just by observing his skin.

The Central Wuji Sha merged into Mu Lin’s entire body, endowing his bones, scales, and blood with an unyielding and unchanging nature, as if impervious to all methods.

Various Gang Qi also transformed into patterns, merging into the surface of Mu Lin’s skin…

The integration of these various methods made this evolution bring about immense changes for Mu Lin.

His strength skyrocketed as his physical body advanced to Mortal Shedding.

However, because of this, Mu Lin’s advancement inevitably brought about some anomalous effects to the entire Yuzhou City.

Even though Mu Lin had tried his best to conceal it.

For instance, his body was already eleven kilometers long, and without concealment, the entire Jade Lake Dao Academy would struggle to contain him.

To address this, Mu Lin coiled himself up, head to tail.

Yet, due to his excessively long and thick body, even coiled up, Mu Lin resembled a small mountain, towering and immense.

Secondly, there was the ability to see as day and close as night—opening his eyes brought daylight, while closing them brought darkness.

This ability had become Mu Lin’s innate instinct, easily activated.

And because Mu Lin had just advanced, he couldn’t fully control his talents, unconsciously opening and closing his eyes several times. This caused the weather in Yuzhou City to alternate repeatedly between night and day.

“What’s going on? Why is it suddenly bright?”

“It’s dark, then bright again… Is some senior playing around?”

At this moment, most people in Yuzhou City weren’t overly panicked, nor did they think the situation was particularly serious.

After all, although there were few experts capable of altering the weather, coincidentally, Yuzhou City was currently gathering countless powerful individuals due to the North-South conflict, and many of them could achieve such feats. Thus, many assumed it was just a powerful cultivator indulging in some playful mischief.

Just as they speculated and sighed at the boredom of such a powerful figure, another change appeared in the sky.

It began to rain—a torrential downpour poured from the heavens.

Simultaneously, endless gales and cold currents blew out from the Jade Lake Dao Academy, sweeping in all directions.

“Whoosh…”

“Roar…”

What was even more terrifying was that the rain wasn’t ordinary water but a black rain capable of dissolving all things.

The gales blowing from the Jade Lake Dao Academy also made people sway unsteadily, and soon, many cultivators realized that the wind wasn’t blowing against their bodies but against their Divine Souls.

They were swaying unsteadily, a sign that their divine souls were about to be blown out of their bodies.

That was a yin wind capable of scattering human souls—the cold felt by many cultivators was not physical cold at all, but a chill that pierced the soul.

“Hiss…”

“Senior, please stop! This could cost lives!”

【Breath of the Wind】

After all, Mu Lin was not the Zhongshan Dragon. Some abilities drew him closer to the Zhongshan Dragon, while others were unique to Mu Lin alone.

For instance, the gale that scattered human souls and the black rain that eroded and dissolved everything were Mu Lin’s innate talents.

In addition, the ability to be born from a tail and create worlds by holding a pearl could also be considered Mu Lin’s unique capabilities, distinct from those of the Candle Dragon.

…

The constantly shifting black-and-white night, along with the black rain and yin wind, had a tremendous impact on everyone.

Fortunately, Mu Lin resided in the Jade Lake Dao Academy, where the population was sparse, and those who lived there were all powerful individuals who withstood the first wave of impact.

Of course, what mattered more was that both the Jade Lake Dao Academy and Yuzhou City were protected by city defense arrays.

Once the situation turned dire, these arrays were immediately activated.

“Hum!”

The massive arrays easily withstood the celestial anomalies. At the same time, someone stepped forward and called out to the heavens.

“Senior, stop this mischief! If it continues, it will be hard to resolve!”

The one shouting loudly was Ji Hongyu. As the deputy commander of the Demon Suppression Division, she was responsible for maintaining order in the region.

Now, the constantly shifting day and night, the torrential downpour, and the yin wind that seemed capable of scattering human souls had thrown Yuzhou City into turmoil. She had no choice but to step forward, reassure the people, and warn the “senior” causing the disturbance to stop.

Naturally, Mu Lin was unable to stop. Fully focused on his advancement, he had no attention to spare for anything else.

This complete disregard for her only fueled Ji Hongyu’s anger.

“Hmph, refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. Since the senior refuses to listen, you’ll have to come with me.”

Within Yuzhou City, Ji Hongyu wielded considerable authority… Even the third prince of the East Sea King, Ji Yu, dared not linger in the city after attempting to assassinate Mu Lin, fleeing in haste instead.

Although the Demon Suppression Army might not necessarily offend the East Sea King to the point of no return for Mu Lin’s sake, if Ji Yu had remained in Yuzhou City, the Demon Suppression Army would not have hesitated to imprison him for decades. This would serve as both an explanation and a favor to Mu Lin, binding him firmly to the Demon Suppression Army.

Of course, once Ji Yu left and returned to the East Sea Kingdom, the Demon Suppression Army could do nothing about it.

…

The anomalies and chaos before her reminded Ji Hongyu of the recent turmoil in Yuzhou City, as well as the infighting and internal strife among the Human Race at such a time, all of which left her feeling deeply frustrated.

Thus, in her foul mood, she resolved to capture the “senior” causing the disturbance and ensure he could not simply brush it off.

At the very least, she would impose a fine of spirit stones that would make him wince in pain.

As she thought this, she also focused all her efforts on locating the source of the celestial anomalies.

This was relatively easy to find. Mu Lin, in the midst of his advancement, was unable to conceal his aura. Within moments, Ji Hongyu discovered that all the anomalies originated from the Jade Lake Dao Academy.

She even pinpointed the exact location of the disturbance.

Moreover, a few days prior, she had visited Mu Lin’s residence to help him fend off the assassination attempt by the black-robed assassin—though, due to the Ouroboros Sword, she hadn’t been of much assistance to Mu Lin.

However, that assassination attempt had allowed her to learn the location of Mu Lin’s residence.

Now, sensing that the anomaly emanated from Mu Lin’s residence, her first reaction was one of urgency.

“Someone is trying to assassinate Mu Lin again. How audacious! East Sea King, you truly regard our Southeast Region and the Demon Suppression Division as nothing!”

Enraged, she burned her Qi and Blood and flew frantically toward Mu Lin.

Clearly, she did not believe that Mu Lin was responsible for all of this.

The reason for this was the sheer scale of the anomaly—its range was too vast, affecting an excessively wide area.

It must be noted that Yuzhou City is an enormous town, not an ordinary small city; it is roughly a hundred times larger than Ping’an Ancient Town.

To influence such a massive city would require an immense amount of Mana.

Like everyone else, Ji Hongyu believed that Mu Lin was merely a young Prodigy, not yet a true powerhouse. Therefore, she absolutely did not think Mu Lin could achieve something of this magnitude.

Since it wasn’t Mu Lin, and the source of the anomaly was emanating from his residence, Ji Hongyu naturally assumed that someone had come to assassinate him again.

(End of Chapter)