His eyes had recovered, which put Ding Huan in a great mood. After simply grilling a fish to eat, he continued his closed-door cultivation of Luo Shijin.
Just as Ding Huan had anticipated, merely two days into cultivation, he began to feel as if the meridians within his body were about to split open. Once again, that painful sensation of being scorched by an internal fire surged up.
Ding Huan was familiar with this feeling; it was the same agonizing pain he had experienced when he first stepped into the ranks of a Second Level gene cultivator.
It seemed that he was about to become a Third-level gene cultivator. The cultivation of Luo Shijin was one thing, but the process of advancing levels was horrifying indeed.
Fine trails of blood appeared on the surface of Ding Huan’s body, known only to him as he endured an indescribable torment.
With each cycle of Luo Shijin, flames would rise, burning his internal organs, and then these flames would extend throughout his body.
But Ding Huan knew he absolutely could not stop now. If he did, advancing to the ranks of a Third-level gene cultivator would become much more difficult.
Elemental power zigzagged violently through Ding Huan’s body, swelling it to the brink of bursting, only for the cycle of Luo Shijin to just barely channel away this dreadful energy.
Though the elemental power continued to burn and torment his body, for Ding Huan, it was far better than bursting apart.
This agony persisted into the third day, and when even Ding Huan’s eyes began to seep blood, he felt as if a brand new pathway had been carved out within him.
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The wild elemental power finally found a release and instantly diffused throughout his entire body, infusing him with a sense of rebirth.
Ding Huan heaved a deep sigh; he had stepped into the ranks of a Third-level gene cultivator.
While continuing to run Luo Shijin to stabilize his cultivation, he pondered how to modify this cultivation technique.
Two more days passed, and Ding Huan’s cultivation had solidified at the level of a Third-level gene cultivator.
He then stopped trying to figure out how to modify this cultivation technique. Indeed, his mind held many theories on cultivation methods, but his cultivation was too weak to fully grasp them.
With his current abilities, attempting to modify a cultivation technique of Luo Shijin’s caliber was almost no different from seeking death.
The levels of cultivation techniques he could currently modify were not too advanced, and such techniques would have no effect on him.
Stepping out of the tent, Ding Huan began to practice Wind Control Skill.
Ever since acquiring the Wind Control Skill, Ding Huan wanted to master it, but he never had the time to refine the spell.
Now that he had entered the realm of a Third-level gene cultivator, with no immediate prospects for advancement, he might as well concentrate on studying the Wind Control Skill in the depths of this cave.
The Wind Control Skill wasn’t particularly complex; all it required was Inner Qi and the correct breathing and casting techniques.
To master the Wind Control Skill, one simply had to practice continuously until proficient.
Ding Huan was a person capable of enduring solitude; two hundred years of wandering the cosmos had tempered his temperament.
Another half-month went by. Ding Huan practiced the Wind Control Skill during the day and Luo Shijin at night.
After advancing to the realm of a Third-level gene cultivator, Ding Huan felt his progress had noticeably slowed. Even so, it was still faster than cultivating outside.
One day, Ding Huan executed the Wind Control Skill, effortlessly stepping thirty meters into the air, then drifted down slowly like a falling leaf.
Ding Huan was quite satisfied with his progress. If he exerted his full strength, he could traverse hundreds of meters suspended in the void using the Wind Control Skill.
With his current ability to float in the air, he shouldn’t be too far behind those so-called Innates, should he?
Facing Antonio now, Ding Huan believed he could easily walk away.
Pfft! Walk away my ass, he was now a Third-level gene cultivator with Wind Blade Skill and the Wind Control Skill; what was there to fear from Antonio?
Looking up at the sixty-meter-high stone wall where the monkey was, Ding Huan’s figure flickered, and he flew up on the spot. After pushing off the stone wall for a boost, he easily landed beside the monkey.
Now a Third-level gene cultivator, Ding Huan had exceptionally sharp eyesight.
Even before he came up here, he could see very clearly that this might be a monkey-shaped stone.
But the stone was too similar to a monkey, in fact, it was identical as if it had been carved in the shape of a monkey.
That was the key point that aroused his suspicion.
Generally speaking, a stone monkey sculpted by a stone mason wouldn’t be placed inside a cave, let alone in a crack high up a sixty-meter wall.
"It really does look like one…" Standing on a protruding rock, Ding Huan looked at the stone monkey before him and murmured to himself.
It wasn’t just similar to a monkey; it was exactly the same.
The wonder of nature truly was unimaginable.
Ding Huan reached out to touch the stone monkey, and since it was a natural formation, he had no intention of disturbing it.
However, as soon as Ding Huan’s hand touched the stone monkey, he felt that something wasn’t quite right.
Without any hesitation, he unleashed several Wind Blades around the stone monkey, and then with a pull, he brought it out with him before gracefully landing on the ground.
Ding Huan closed his eyes this time, carefully feeling the head of the stone monkey with his hands.
In just a few breaths, Ding Huan confirmed that this was not a monkey formed from natural rock, nor was it a man-made sculpture.
This was a monkey with flesh and blood, frozen stiff in place.
Why describe it as frozen rather than dead? Ding Huan had his own views.
He had been adventuring for many years, and his sixth sense was still very strong.
This monkey had been dead for who knows how long, yet Ding Huan felt that at the time of its death, its vitality was exceedingly vibrant.
To be killed suddenly when vitality was at its peak, and it might not even be accurate to say it was killed, it seemed more like it was immobilized.
Looking at the monkey again, Ding Huan felt it more closely resembled a monkey-faced human.
Its hind limbs seemed longer, while its forelimbs were relatively shorter, almost like a human’s.
A real monkey’s limbs are not that different in length.
Ding Huan’s gaze fell upon the monkey’s head, where there seemed to be a mark from a blow.
He observed the mark closely and touched it with his finger, then looked at it in disbelief.
There was a spell’s imprint within it, meaning it was killed by Daoist Skill.
The reason he knew there was a trace of Daoist Skill was probably related to the knowledge transmitted by the leather scroll.
The indent his finger touched had patterns against the grain, not in disarray. Only a Daoist Skill attack would leave such a mark.
Otherwise, with his current strength, he wouldn’t have recognized such a trace.
If he were stronger, he might even be able to deduce the specific Daoist Skill used by the attacker.
Ding Huan was thrilled; being killed by Daoist Skill further proved his conjecture. The Ancient Immortals did exist, only later due to changes on Earth, they disappeared or drifted away from here.
This monkey had been dead for who knows how many years, yet it could still turn into petrified stone, and he could even feel that the monkey was transformed from flesh and blood.
What did this imply? It implied there was a chance to save the monkey.
Of course, his definition of saving might differ from the true sense of the word. But that didn’t matter, as long as it was useful to him.
With his understanding of genetic theories and application of genetic knowledge, as long as this monkey’s gene still existed, he had the chance to find it and fuse it with another monkey’s gene.
Ding Huan only wanted to know the true origin of this monkey, as well as some conditions of the era it was from.
Thus, he didn’t need to fully restore this monkey’s life; he just needed to extract the Memory Gene.
To extract a monkey’s Memory Gene, one would need to search through an immense gene repository. For others, this was a task too difficult for a single person.
Ding Huan had his own method: Genomic Dissolution.
When he extracted the Antidote Gene from the golden-faced thick-tailed macaque, he used Genomic Dissolution, and completed the task in two days.
To obtain this monkey’s Memory Gene through Genomic Dissolution should take no more than a day or two as well.
The only difference from before was that Ding Huan didn’t plan to fuse this Memory Gene into himself.
This was different from fusing an ability gene; he simply wanted to know what had happened.
So, Ding Huan planned to find a genetic fusion host for this monkey.
In other words, if he could truly transplant the Memory Gene of this monkey completely into a new host, then declaring the monkey reborn wouldn’t be wrong.
The so-called rebirth, to put it bluntly, was the restoration of memory. More complex implications would involve the soul.
Ding Huan set the monkey to the side, deciding that when he left the cave, he would take the monkey to the laboratory at Yujiang University.
With his current strength, there was no need for secrecy. To return openly to the laboratory at Yujiang University, who could touch him?
He didn’t leave now because Ding Huan felt that cultivating deep within this cave yielded better Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi than the outside.
Thinking of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, Ding Huan suddenly remembered what Steve had said when he was in the Genetic Alliance’s stronghold in Pu Hai.
The Genetic Alliance was wiped out because their elites were not at home.
Those elites had gone to the Kunlun Mountain, claiming they found the relics of an Ancient Daoist...
Previously, he lacked the strength to do anything, but now he was a Third-level gene cultivator.
Ding Huan’s mind became active, the Ancient Daoist relics definitely existed, which he had deduced from various details about the existence of the Immortal God.
He also heard that long ago, the Blue Star Ten Great Colleges found Heaven and Earth Essence Stones in the Kunlun Mountain Range—it was material imbued with Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, an excellent resource for accelerating cultivation progress.
He wondered if those in the Genetic Alliance found the Daoist relics; if they did, he might as well rob the Genetic Alliance.
If the Genetic Alliance hadn’t found it, he would look for it himself.
He had always intended to uproot the Genetic Alliance entirely. Since he was going to steal from them, his current cultivation level was insufficient—he needed to at least reach the level of a Fourth-level gene cultivator before he could set out.
He needed to continue his reclusive meditation here.
(Today’s update ends here. Good night, friends, and continue to vote for the monthly ticket. The comments can’t be displayed these days and can’t be seen by each other, it should be restored in a couple of days.)