Chapter 584: Chapter 500: Adapting to Death
He suddenly halted, forcefully enduring the soul-rending pain, forcing his sluggish thoughts to begin functioning with difficulty.
"Because... I have died before?"
He recalled that experience on the "Justice" plane.
Facing the obliteration from the intelligent creation left by a Ninth Level existence, he had no power to resist, his soul and existence utterly dismantled.
The pre-prepared Death Replacement Doll activated, pulling him back from absolute death.
"Could it be... because I’ve truly ’died’ once, the ’Adaptive Evolution’ of the Body Refining Technique... started to adapt to the concept of ’death’ itself?"
This conjecture brought a chill even to himself.
The adaptive evolution ability of the Body Refining Technique—he always knew its immense potential, enabling him to adapt to various damage, pressure, environments, and even mental strain.
But never did he imagine that this adaptability... might extend into the realm of "death"!
If this were true, his current condition would be understandable.
Even without fully adapting to death, merely adapting slightly would drastically increase his tolerance to death.
Other wizards facing fatal injuries would fall directly, while similar wounds on him might only lead to "near-death" or "serious injury", avoiding immediate "death".
Because his body’s and soul’s "adaptability" has, to some extent, significantly raised the threshold of "death".
This explains why he can maintain consciousness and still "survive" after his soul shattered.
"Body Cultivator... the Cultivation Immortality Realm boasts of its unrivaled power at the same tier... yet I have always subconsciously treated it as merely a cultivation method to supplement body strength."
Jeming lay on the cold ground, his shattered soul trembling in agony, yet his mind wandered towards the records in the Great Dao Book Pavilion regarding the Cultivation Immortality Realm.
"But thinking now, even cultivators of other systems can enhance their body qualities through various means. So... the core of Body Cultivators and what distinguishes them from other cultivators is actually the ’Adaptive Evolution’, whose ultimate form can adapt to, or even become immune to, ’death’..."
He felt a tingling in his scalp.
Then those body cultivation geniuses from top-tier Immortality sects, with vast resources and guidance from predecessors, could, under sect protection, repeatedly "experience" death by consuming revival-type treasures or elixirs, letting their body and soul continuously adapt to it.
Ultimately, they could create a monster in the true sense that "cannot be killed"!
Body Cultivators are unafraid of injury, fearing only being fatally struck before adapting to harm.
If even "being fatally struck" can be substantially resisted or even immunized through prior adaptation...
"Then Body Cultivators really... have almost no weaknesses." Jeming murmured.
Though he has always mentally estimated a high battle capacity for Body Cultivators, now he found he still underestimated them.
"That means I may also be able to... no, the price is too steep... at least not at this stage." He quickly shook his head, dispelling those unrealistic fantasies.
Even the most ordinary Death Replacement Doll is priced at a hundred billion high-level military merits in the Star Ring Federation exchange list!
It’s an astronomical figure, enough to drive many Sixth Level Wizards to despair.
Relying on this to brush up on "death resistance" with his current earning ability is purely wishful thinking.
Nevertheless, this discovery remains significant.
At least he has a clearer understanding of the potential of the Body Refining Technique he’s cultivating.
Time slowly passed in pain and random thoughts.
Several hours ticked by, Jeming still weakly lying on the ground, the pain in his soul not the slightest bit alleviated. But gradually, he felt a slight difference.
The pain enough to crush an ordinary person’s will seemed... not as "unbearable" anymore.
The pain hadn’t lessened, but his "Tolerance Threshold" was forcibly raised by the ongoing adaptive evolution of the Body Refining Technique.
He could clearly feel every sting of soul tearing dismay, yet these pains could no longer easily drown his consciousness.
He attempted, very slowly, to move his fingers.
Success.
Next, followed by moving his wrist, his arm, then supporting the ground, bit by bit, with extreme difficulty, lifting his upper body off the ground.
Each tiny movement was accompanied by soul-tearing pain, cold sweat gushed like slurry, but he bit his teeth, regaining control, little by little, over this broken vessel.
"Must... leave immediately..."
He gasped, staggeringly stood up, scanning around.
This area had been completely devastated in the earlier battle, the Energy fluctuations chaotically rampant.
The death of that Sixth Level Wizard would surely draw the attention of the Alliance Army high command.
Pursuers could arrive at any moment.
But in his current state, even if a mere Fifth Level Wizard came again, it would spell his death.
Jeming gasped, attempting to concentrate his ravaged mind.
He needed to erase traces, disturb tracking.
From the Grotto Heaven retrieved the witchcraft artifact for Cause and Effect Tracing Technique, Spiritual Power slowly flowed into it through his mind, activating the transformative magic.
Subsequently, Jeming was just about to further manipulate the magic...
"Ugh!!!"
The soul’s depth suddenly erupted with pain like billions of steel needles stabbing, causing him to moan in agony, his vision blacking out, nearly fainting.
The just-formed technique model wavered violently like a candle in the wind under the disturbance of Spiritual Power, then collapsed and dissipated.
He half-kneeled on the ground, fingers painfully burrowed into the cold surface, his knuckles whitening from exertion, forehead beaded with cold sweat.
"No... in this state can’t manage such refined control-requiring witchcraft..." Jeming gritted his teeth, face pale as paper.
Cause and Effect Tracing Technique isn’t just completed once cast; it requires the caster’s continuous guidance and adjustments to precisely cover or counterfeit information flow, demanding very high calculation power and mental focus.
With his currently shattered soul, forcing its execution would be self-harm.
He reluctantly gave up on relying on the Cause and Effect Tracing Technique to erase information.
And with Cause and Effect Tracing Technique unavailable, Light Transformation Escape Technique is out of the question.
That requires temporarily transforming one’s existence, demanding extremely rigorous control power and soul integrity.
Space teleportation and other complex high calculation power witchcraft are a mere luxury.
Ultimately, he could only pin his hopes on other witchcraft arts.
With a slight mental motion, a specially crafted talisman witchcraft artifact, engraved with the [Void Step] rune, activated from the Grotto Heaven, fitting against his leg.
The familiar stealth and acceleration force field quietly enveloped his body, yet Jeming’s heart slightly sank.
Upon careful perception, it was as expected: the "deep level concealment" effect of Void Step—to perfectly integrate with the environment in a static state, deceiving conventional perception—was not fully effective.
(Another Chapter to follow.)
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