Chapter 666: Success After Backlash
‘Is he planning to use an avatar to refine the spirit devouring ghost worm?’
‘This is a good idea, but will it work?’ wondered Xiang Yun. Although she thought it was a brilliant idea, she was unsure of whether Lin Jin would succeed or not.
After all, she never heard of anyone trying to refine items with their clone.
As an expert in pelletization, Xiang Yun’s knowledge and experience were more extensive and profound than Lin Jin’s. The conclusion she arrived at was that his attempt would fail.
The ghost worm was far more dangerous than one could imagine. Refining and controlling it required immense skill. In other words, to succeed, Lin Jin had to have a high enough cultivation level.
Xiang Yun looked at Lin Jin, then at his clone, and shook her head.
Although the oppressive force she sensed from the clone was comparable to a half immortal, it still wasn’t enough. A clone could never compare to the real thing.
After giving it some thought, Xiang Yun broke the silence again, “Mr. Lin, your clone’s aura may be strong but a clone can never compare to the actual person, as they are only supported by spells. You won’t succeed by using a medium to refine the worms. You might have resorted to this method in fear of backlash, but this only increases the likelihood of that happening. It would be impossible for you to refine this ghost worm after that.”
Lin Jin looked at Xiang Yun, surprised.
Her observation was keen enough that she was able to guess his next step.
However, she didn’t know him well enough.
The reaction inside the furnace grew increasingly violent. The harrowing sounds made by the ghost worm prompted Xiang Yun to stop talking and focus on stabilizing the furnace.
“This is it, I can’t hold out much longer.” Moments later, Xiang Yun’s face was covered in sweat. Seeing this, Lin Jin knew she was already at her limit.
He knew it was time to cast his ultimate skill.
Through his psyche, he commanded his clone to open the furnace and poke his head inside.
Xiang Yun was too shocked to even speak.
Was he giving up because he knew this would fail? Even so, he didn’t have to destroy his clone.
Was his clone trying to kill itself?
Xiang Yun couldn’t comprehend what was going on. What surprised her was how after entering the furnace, the rattling inside the furnace died down gradually.
It was as if the ghost worms inside were being comforted by the clone.
“This is getting weirder!” Xiang Yun mumbled to herself. Of course, she could tell something was working. Perhaps the refinement even succeeded, but how? She had no idea.
Was the clone unafraid of being burned by the furnace?
Even so, what happened after that? Why did the uneasy spirit devouring ghost worm decide to calm down so abruptly?
Xiang Yun was utterly dumbfounded.
On the other hand, Lin Jin knew perfectly well what had happened. After seeing the furnace settle down, Lin Jin’s tense expression eased up.
With the furnace in the way, Xiang Yun couldn’t see what was happening inside. In actuality, following the entry of Lin Jin’s clone into the furnace, its interior turned into an endless sea of blood which engulfed all the ghost worms.
This was Lin Jin’s ultimate method of refining and controlling the spirit devouring ghost worm – Assimilation.
The blood ghost was a unique shape-shifting beast that could take on many forms. One of its forms is the blood sea, which could devour everything in their path. Lin Jin was using this particular ability to achieve a perfect fusion between the blood ghost and the ghost worms.
Upon entering the furnace, the blood ghost immediately went for the ghost worms. Now, the ghost worms were trying to devour it back.
This process was inevitable.
After all, in terms of power, the ghost worms still reigned above the blood ghost. This method was only possible as Lin Jin managed to promote the blood ghost to Rank 6. Otherwise, at Rank 5, to assimilate the ghost worms to gain control over them was an absurd idea.
The backlash started and the blood ghost began to collapse. For humans, even if they were half immortals, suffering the ghost worm’s backlash might prove fatal.
However, the blood ghost had a near-indestructible body.
Even if it collapsed from the backlash, it could rebuild itself tirelessly and start the devouring process all over again.
Of course, the ghost worm would try to devour it again, but no matter how many times this went on, the blood ghost would never die. It would keep refining the ghost worm, and the bond between them would solidify with each repetition.
This would go on until an equilibrium is reached.
Under such a balance, the ghost worm would cease to resist the blood ghost, thus allowing Lin Jin complete control over the worms.
As Lin Jin shared a blood contract with the blood ghost, he would gain another blood pact with the ghost worm.
To put it simply, it was an effortless and risk-free process for Lin Jin to refine this ghost worm into a weapon of his own.
This was comparable to contracting with a third pet beast.
All this happened inside a single furnace. It was such a brilliant process that the reincarnation of Daojun would give Lin Jin a thumbs up for coming up with such an ingenious idea.
It was a pity the entire process was only witnessed by one person, and that was Lin Jin himself. Even though Xiang Yun was standing beside him, she couldn’t see anything. Even if she did, she would be just as puzzled.
Having tasted the sweetness of success, Lin Jin couldn’t hide his smile. Just then, blood oozed out of the furnace and took on Lin Jin’s shape.
This was Lin Jin’s blood ghost clone, and within its body was the spirit devouring ghost worms. At crucial moments, Lin Jin would be able to control them without having to worry about any backlash.
Even if that were to occur, the harm would be limited to the blood ghost. Since the blood ghost was indestructible, this posed zero issues for Lin Jin.
Thus, Lin Jin gained another option that enabled him to hold his ground against a profound immortal on the battlefield.
While the advantage seemed huge, the shortcoming was just as severe.
The blood ghost was supposed to be a beast with great evolutionary potential but its rank will be forever stunted. At this point, it was at the peak of Rank 6, perhaps even a budding Rank 7.
While the ghost worms enabled it to clash with profound immortals, it could never evolve anymore. Anything above Rank 7 was an impossible dream, as its potential had been cut off.
This was a deliberate choice of Lin Jin’s. After all, you win some, you lose some.
When he read the refinement method in the museum, Lin Jin was already prepared for this outcome. Thankfully, Lin Jin didn’t have just one pet beast; there was still Xiao Huo he could rely on.
Xiao Huo was only Rank 5, but with the nine sun quartz, advancing to Rank 6 was only a matter of time.
Although that wasn’t very high, Xiao Huo’s future was limitless. Perhaps only he could achieve Rank 9 in the end.
That was Lin Jin’s ray of hope amidst the darkness.