There were many unique things in this world, and Harpies were just one of them.
As bloodline creatures, they were not very strong and if they were by themselves, they could be easily dealt with by an adult human.
However, they usually lived in flocks and rarely appeared by themselves.
Moreover, they were all female.
Chen Heng took a look at it. This Harpy was not very old and had only just matured; it still looked quite young.
The aura of life that it gave off was very powerful; it would be quite a good one among the Harpy flock.
"Not bad."
Looking at the Harpy, Chen Heng nodded before slowly approaching.
Sensing Chen Heng's approach, the Harpy slowly raised its head and ferociously looked at him with its sharp eyes.
Its eyes were filled with rage and violence, and watching Chen Heng approach, its body tensed as if it was gathering strength.
Chen Heng could acutely sense this, but he did not care.
As Chen Heng stretched his hand in, a massive claw slashed out but it did not hit anything.
A crack sounded out as the Harpy's neck was broken by Chen Heng.
Chen Heng then opened the cage and dragged out the Harpy's corpse.
There was an experiment bench nearby, and it had many apparatuses on it.
Chen Heng had especially gathered those things; some of them had been brought by him from the Hunter's House, and he had kept them until now.
It was likely that there was not another laboratory as comprehensive as this one on the entire continent.
Chen Heng placed the Harpy's corpse on the experiment bench before acting.
He picked up a scalpel and began to dissect this corpse.
His actions were incredibly fluid and proficient, and anyone watching would feel their hair stand on end.
Soon, the Harpy's body had been opened up, and Chen Heng took what he needed and discarded the rest.
There was now a bottle of red fluid in front of him. It looked quite beautiful, and the blood within it seemed incredibly fresh and unique.
This was the Harpy's bloodline essence, which Chen Heng had extracted through special means and stored in the bottle.
Over the past two years, apart from doing Meditation and experiments, Chen Heng had also been researching the Heaven Devouring Scripture.
Through his finances, he was also continuously buying all kinds of creatures with different bloodlines to devour.
He could easily find ordinary people, but the effects were not very good.
The Heaven Devouring Scripture's foundation was to devour other bloodline essences to enhance one's own self.
Ordinary people's bloodline essences were not very special, nor did they have much life force. As such, they would not provide a great benefit to Chen Heng.
At the same time, Chen Heng was a Human.
If there were no better alternatives, he might have to settle for ordinary people, but since he had other choices, he did not want to act against his own kind.
Even though there was nothing wrong with it, he did not feel very good about it.
As such, he placed his focus on other creatures.
In the Sorcerer World, apart from Humans, there were also Outlanders.
This included Elves, Orcs, etc.
Apart from these Outlanders, there were also some bloodline creatures that inherited powerful bloodlines from the past.
These were the best options for using the Heaven Devouring Scripture to devour.
Not only would Chen Heng feel better about it, but the effects would be much better too.
Of course, even if they were Outlanders, directly acting against a corpse or living creature was somewhat disgusting.
As such, from a while ago, Chen Heng would first refine their bloodline essence before consuming it.
This also saved some materials. After all, many parts of bloodline creatures' bodies were precious materials.
If he directly used the Heaven Devouring Scripture and turned the corpse into a dry corpse, most of the materials would be wasted.
After the refining process, not only could Chen Heng directly refine the bloodline essence, but he could also use the remaining materials.
Why would he not do this?
After refining the Harpy's bloodline essence, Chen Heng went to another room.
"It's a pity, there are still so many impurities…"
Looking at the bottle of red blood, Chen Heng shook his head.
He had refined this bottle of bloodline essence to a very high degree, and the Harpy's bloodline was quite pure.
However, he could not refine it any further.
"According to the records, the ancestors of Harpies had half the body of women. As long as they matured, they would not be inferior to a true Sorcerer…"
Looking at the bottle of red blood, Chen Heng thought to himself, "It's just a pity that their descendants are inferior to even ordinary mortals."
Harpies were a type of bloodline creature.
The most obvious thing about bloodline creatures was that after they matured, they would automatically gain certain strength.
This was the case for the ancestors of Harpies—back then, when they matured, they would be able to rival true Sorcerers and gain great strength.
It was just that their descendants were far weaker than them.
"However, it's not that they devolved but due to the changes in the surroundings…" Chen Heng thought to himself, "The so-called High Magic Regions and Low Magic Regions…"
To Sorcerers, the environment was very important, and it could be split into High Magic Regions, Low Magic Regions, and Null Magic Regions.
The difference between them was the density of elemental particles within them.
If a region had dense elemental particles that were quite active, it would be a High Magic Region; the opposite would be a Low Magic Region.
If there were no elemental particles in a region, it would be a Null Magic Region.
The changes in environments caused many things to change.
For Sorcerers, living in High Magic Regions meant that their Meditation would be more effective and the production of some magic objects and plants would be easier.
However, in Low Magic Regions, not only were the effects of Meditation lower, but it was also more difficult to produce certain magic objects and plants.
It sounded quite similar to the Azure Heaven Realm's spirit qi.
From how Chen Heng saw it, the Harpies' bloodlines had been affected by this.
His experience from previous simulations told him that environments could affect creatures greatly, and that the more powerful the creature, the more they relied on their environment.
Perhaps the ancestors of Harpies were only so powerful because of their environment.
In Low Magic Regions, they were unable to adapt, resulting in them becoming weaker and weaker.
This was a possible explanation.
Thinking to there, Chen Heng shook his head before continuing to work.
As he used the Heaven Devouring Scripture, the red blood in the bottle continuously decreased, turning into pure energy as it flowed into his body.
A trace of a warm feeling appeared in Chen Heng's body, and his vision began to change.
In that moment, it was as if he had become a Harpy, and he went through different experiences.
Within the nest, he was born from his mother's body before slowly growing up, until he was captured and then sold.
These memories were incredibly clear and intense.
If one's will was not strong and one was attacked by these memories, one would most likely be greatly affected by them and become a different person.
This greatly showed the benefit of powerful mental energy.
Standing there, Chen Heng ferociously shook his head a few times before instinctively retreating a few steps and returning to normal.
"What a feeling…" Chen Heng muttered as he shook his head.
As the Heaven Devouring Scripture devoured other bloodlines, it would also take in part of their memories and some information about their bloodline.
This process was extremely dangerous.
If one's mind was not strong enough, it was easy for one to be affected by the traits and nature of the entity that was being devoured.
This was why those who used the Heaven Devouring Scripture would experience changes to their minds and personalities, resulting in them becoming crazy.
After all, bloodline essence contained others' minds and memories.
To others, those were their most precious things, but to someone else, those were just impurities.
When there were too many impurities, one would be unable to distinguish just who they were.
Chen Heng had experienced this during this period of time.
Fortunately, his mind was very powerful and with Moon God Energy's support, he was able to gradually get rid of those impurities, so there were no problems.
Of course, the main thing was that he had held himself back and had not devoured too many things.
Without having dispelled the side-effects from one creature, he would not go to devour another creature.
During these two years, he had only used the Heaven Devouring Scripture eight times; he was very careful.
"Looks like I have to rest for a few months again."
After using the Heaven Devouring Scripture, Chen Heng held his head and sat on a chair.
The Harpy's memories were still in his mind and would make his mind feel somewhat strange.
For example, he would occasionally feel the impulse to catch fish and eat raw meat.
These were the side-effects.
In the Harpy's memories were many bloody scenes: eating living people, mating with all kinds of creatures…
If one's mind was not strong enough, they most likely would not be able to hold on.
Even someone like Chen Heng needed some time to get over it.
Chen Heng sat on the chair and closed his eyes as he rested.
As he did this, he also sensed the changes in his body.
"My life force seems to have become stronger…"
Chen Heng thought to himself, "It's just that my physiology has begun to change, and it has begun to become different to that of other humans…"
Devouring other bloodlines did not just affect one's mind—the effect on one's body was even greater.
This was quite normal.
After all, the mind originated from the body, and most of the things that people experienced originated from their body.
Hunger, lust, joy, anger, sorrow…
Many feelings and emotions had to do with the body.
Before reaching a certain level, the body was incredibly important.
Every time Chen Heng devoured another bloodline, he would feel some changes in his body.
Devouring ordinary people would only cause slight changes, causing some parts of his body to become stronger.
However, when he devoured other creatures' bloodlines, his body would go through some mutations, such as causing his organs to slightly change.
Right now, even though Chen Heng still looked like a human, if he was dissected, one would find that there were many things different between him and other ordinary humans.
However, this was not too strange.
After all, it was not just Chen Heng but all Sorcerers who had things like this.
Sorcerers became stronger through their lifeforce becoming stronger. This did not happen out of nowhere but through their bodies going through changes.
After all, bodies did not become stronger out of nowhere, and they were usually accompanied by structural changes.
The more powerful a Sorcerer, the further away they were from ordinary humans.
From how Chen Heng saw it, true Sorcerers most likely had even bigger differences between their bodies and ordinary humans' bodies; they could even be called two different species.
Perhaps this was why it was so difficult for true Sorcerers to reproduce, as well as why the Sorcerers did not treat mortals as the same kind.
When their biological structures were so different, why would they see them as the same race?
Of course, Knights had a similar problem.
In previous years, Chen Heng had obtained a few Knights' corpses.
Knights who had awakened a Life Seed had different biological structures from ordinary people. However, these differences were not very big and did not affect their reproduction rate.
Even though it was difficult for a Knight and an ordinary person to have children, it was not as bad as Sorcerers.
No matter what system it was, the further they went, the further they would be from ordinary mortals.
This was not just the case for the Sorcerers and Knights of the Sorcerer World but for the cultivators of the Azure Heaven Realm as well.
Sitting on the wooden chair, Chen Heng thought to himself before feeling a sense of disappointment, "It's a pity that I don't have any cultivators' corpses. Otherwise, I would be able to compare the differences between a Sorcerer's body and a cultivator's body."