Chapter Thirty: The Starlight Clan

“Knock, knock, knock! Shen, are you alright?” A burst of knocking came from outside—the voice of Zhang Jing, who, having heard Shen Lie’s shout, called out with concern but did not enter.

“I’m fine, I’ll be better in a moment!” Shen Lie replied calmly, then began to examine the changes within himself.

He found his body had become much stronger—not only were his muscles more compact, but even his bones had grown crystal-clear, while his blood shimmered with flecks of starlight. Under his inner gaze, his entire being had moved beyond the realm of ordinary humans.

This must be the effect of evolution. Shen Lie felt no fear; he had long prepared himself for such adaptation. The prospect of becoming a ‘monster’ like Xiao Gang or Ma Zhanlin was not unacceptable to him, so long as he could gain power and maintain his sanity; everything else was secondary.

Yet a question lingered in his heart: Why hadn’t Xiao Gang consumed the white flower immediately upon acquiring it? He’d only used a single petal before locking it in a safe—could it be that Xiao Gang hadn't realized the flower’s true power?

A moment’s thought brought clarity. Perhaps it was due to the Boiling Blood technique; without it, Shen Lie himself wouldn't have been able to absorb the petal’s energy. Xiao Gang surely didn’t know this method. Surviving the explosive force was already remarkable—how could he dare consume more petals?

Having reasoned this out, Shen Lie felt a weight lift from him. His advancement was substantial, even if he didn’t yet understand the nature of the vortex that had appeared within him—it was likely a sign of progression. He would soon test his new strength.

He stretched lightly, then his gaze fell upon the strange book lying nearby.

Xiao Gang was dead; the book’s origins unknown. Yet in every aspect, it was no ordinary volume. The material and hardness aside, even the arcane script upon it bespoke its extraordinary nature.

The cover’s design was vivid: a drop of crimson blood appeared almost real, as if freshly spilled, with a faint scent of blood wafting from it.

“What an uncanny thing… Is it possible the book requires blood to activate?” Shen Lie pondered the cover’s design, conceding that Xiao Gang’s speculation might not be unfounded. If one were to analyze it, the illustration did seem to suggest dropping blood onto the blank space.

“Should I try?” Interest stirred within him; such a strange book could not fail to intrigue.

“Let’s give it a shot!” He picked up a fruit knife and cut his finger, squeezing out a drop of blood. Unlike Xiao Gang, he had no intention of building a ‘altar’; he simply wanted to test his blood. He suspected Xiao Gang had tried this step as well, so he held little hope.

A drop of bright red blood fell from his fingertip, landing precisely upon the blank space of the book.

Something astonishing occurred!

The instant the blood touched the book, it emitted a faint glow, and a progress bar appeared in the blank area, slowly moving forward.

“What is this?” Shen Lie was utterly stunned—he had never expected such a reaction and anticipation surged within him.

The progress bar advanced slowly; under Shen Lie’s concentrated gaze, it moved for a long time but only reached less than a tenth before stopping. The glow faded.

“Is it that some condition hasn’t been met?” Shen Lie realized this bar was a kind of detection mechanism. To inherit the book’s legacy, certain requirements must be fulfilled; evidently, he had not met them.

If it was a detection mechanism, what was it testing for? He thought it over: since blood was needed, it must relate to bloodlines. The most likely connection was the talents of the Awakened, for all the Awakened he’d encountered had undergone varying degrees of bodily mutation—mutations likely caused by changes in their bloodline.

“So my bloodline doesn’t match the book’s requirements?” Shen Lie muttered, unwilling to give up. He squeezed out another drop of blood onto the book.

The reaction was identical; Shen Lie had to accept the result. He would have to seek out a linguist to see if the book’s script could be translated, and perhaps find another solution.

Disappointed, he picked up the book, examining it as he lamented his bad luck—a martial arts manual that couldn’t be activated, what a waste. Xiao Gang had likely faced the same dilemma, and his obsession had led him to construct that imitation altar.

“Though I’m no saint, I could never do such a thing!” Regardless of whether that method worked, Shen Lie knew he could never bring himself to try it. He sighed and put the book away.

He then observed the leaf-shaped mark in his Niwan Palace. Finding nothing amiss, he prepared to rise and leave, when his attention returned to the drop of liquid upon the leaf-shaped mark.

“Could this also be blood? Can it come out?”

The dark red liquid on the black mark was not very conspicuous, but it looked very much like a drop of blood. Shen Lie, seized by a sudden impulse, tried to command the liquid to exit his Niwan Palace with his will.

No effect.

“Just wishful thinking,” he chuckled bitterly, chiding himself for his wild imagination. Even if it was blood, it couldn’t simply fly out from his head on command—it needed an exit.

“Wait—an exit, an exit?” Another possibility occurred to him. He decided to try once more.

He took out the book again and placed it on the bed. Then, he reopened the cut on his finger, letting a drop of blood hover at his fingertip.

“Now, come out.”

At that moment, as his will stirred, the leaf-shaped mark between his brows quivered—the drop of liquid slid down from the ‘leaf’!

The liquid passed through the Niwan Palace, seemingly guided by some unseen force, and followed the flow of blood to his wounded fingertip, merging with the drop of blood and together falling onto the book’s blank space.

In Shen Lie’s astonished gaze, the book on the bed instantly blazed with light—the progress bar appeared only for an instant before filling completely. The entire book shattered, transforming into streams of light that poured through his fingertip wound into his body!

…

Shen Lie felt countless fragments of knowledge and images flashing through his mind, much like the dreams he’d had after absorbing those two drops of liquid in the underground palace. The process was brief, lasting only three or four minutes before he regained clarity, finding new information in his mind.

This information had two parts: one concerning the strange book, and the other the leaf-shaped mark between his brows.

As expected, the book was indeed a martial arts manual—or rather, a skill book—passed down by someone named Leo.

The information within contained no details about Leo himself, only describing a skill called “Hammer of Apocalypse.” At its highest level, its power was world-ending, but at the initial stage it was merely a potent lightning-based skill.

To learn this skill, one must possess a lightning-type talent; the stronger the talent, the greater the skill’s power. In fact, without lightning abilities, the skill book could not be activated—the progress bar on the blank space verified bloodline compatibility.

Moreover, inheriting the skill book granted the basic method of using the skill. Upgrading depended on the user’s strength and comprehension.

That was all for the skill book. The remaining information concerned the leaf-shaped mark between his brows.

It turned out that this mark truly was a leaf, belonging to the owner of the black blood in the underground palace—the clan of the cloaked man, known as the Starlight Clan, a rare race whose members all possessed a single talent: copying.

That’s right—they could copy the talents of others. Each drop of liquid on the leaf could duplicate a talent, and this ability could be used repeatedly. As long as the liquid was revealed and the blood of the desired target obtained, the process was complete.

This talent was nothing short of miraculous! Shen Lie couldn’t help but wonder what kind of race the Starlight Clan was, for with such a power, as long as conditions permitted, its members could possess any ability they desired.

However, the information about the Starlight Clan was incomplete—perhaps because the mark he’d received was damaged. Not all abilities could be copied; certain special powers were exempt, and the ‘copying liquid’ on the leaf was not limited to the dark red kind—there were apparently higher-grade varieties.

Whatever the limitations, this talent was formidable. Shen Lie stretched out his hand and willed it—a faint arc of lightning danced at his fingertip. Now, he was a dual-talent bearer: strength and lightning!