<h4>Chapter 66: Zhang Lie''s Growth</h4>


    With his preparationsplete, Zhang Lie began to brew Potion #2. Compared to Potion #1, the brewing process was at least tenfold moreplicated.


    First, the various ingredients had to be individually prepared.


    The main ingredient, ck coral, had to be nourished with gic energy until it turned a golden yellow before its herbal properties could be extracted.


    The bear''s-heart grass had to be incinerated into ash, before beingbined with the extract of the eye-of-night flower.


    Preparing each ingredient was a lengthy, tedious, and time-consuming process, one that upied much of Zhang Lie''s time and attention.


    When he grew hungry, he would consume some roasted bimu bear meat as he continued cultivating his gic techniques.


    After ten days, as Zhang Lie ate his thirtieth meal of bear meat, he obtained yet another superior gene fragment, his seventh from the bear.


    At the same time, his gic core, under the guidance of [Ninecarp Transformation] began to tremble. As the core trembled, it also seemed topress, and Zhang Lie felt as though something were about to condense in his core.


    His intuition was right: an S-shaped ck strand suddenly emerged within the core. After it appeared, it wrapped around the nimble fish inside. The pale pink fish seemed to lose its vitality, allowing the ck strand to cocoon it.


    As Zhang Lie continued to eat and cultivate, the gic energy that entered his body all seemed to transform into ck strands. In a matter of moments, the fish waspletely hidden from sight within a ck, elongated cocoon.


    Zhang Lie felt a curious straining sensationing from his core, followed by apression and evolution of his gic energy. Under such unusual circumstances, he naturally stopped his work and began to focuspletely on his gic core.


    It took him an entire day to process the evolution, but when it was all over, Zhang Lie''s [Ninecarp Transformation] had entered its second form: the serpent. Out of the ck cocoon had emerged a ck serpent, which was now happily darting around his core.


    At the same time, Zhang Lie''s water-attuned gic energy gained a second aspect, that of darkness. It was so dark that Zhang Lie felt as though it would leave an indelible stain on anything it touched.


    The first form, the carp, was water-attuned and mitigated fire damage. The second form, the serpent, was dark-attuned and endowed his attacks with the power of decay and corrosion.


    Zhang Lie''s framework was now dual-attuned, and the metamorphosis had caused the framework to grow to medium-grade, improving his rate of recovery and of condensing gic energy.


    Zhang Lie was overjoyed by his growth.


    He made a gripping motion with his right hand, and an orb of ck, crystalline material shed into existence. From afar, it looked like a crystal orb, but from close up, it seemed like a ball of mysterious, inky water,bining both the expanse of the ocean and a strong corrosive nature that could ruin all that it touched.


    With his left hand, he grabbed a pipette and touched it against the orb. ck mist rose into the air, and the bulb of the pipette vanished from existence.


    "With this power and Venombane, the Void Cup should be a fun experience," Zhang Lie murmured, marvelling at his newfound abilities.


    However, he quickly returned to the task at hand: brewing Potion #2. After a few simple tests, Zhang Lie retracted his gic energy and returned to the brewing process.


    It took Zhang Lie a whole month to process the hundreds of ingredients needed for Potion #2, and then to begin the brewing process in earnest. The final result of his struggles was two test tubes, one ck and one white.


    At this critical juncture, Zhang Lie was very nervous—whether all his work within thest month would pay off depended on this very moment. If he were to fail, he would have to restart the arduous month-long process again.


    He picked up both test tubes, trying his best to ay the trembles in his hands, and began to pour them into a third test tube, ensuring that the two liquids mixed evenly and rapidly with one another.


    Thebination of the ck and white liquids produced a sizzling sound within the test tube, and golden wisps of smoke slowly drifted out of it.


    Only when he saw these golden wisps did Zhang Lie rx, his face warping with excitement.


    He had seeded! He really had! A whole month of effort for the test tube in front of him… Hepleted Potion #2 on his very first try!


    Zhang Lie''s eyes gleamed as he stared at the concoction still smoking away on the countertop.


    If he consumed this potion, and if he filled up his missing gene fragments to capacity, then he was sure he would dominate the entire Void Cup.


    After waiting a few minutes for the mixture to settle, Zhang Lie picked up the sole mixture of Potion #2 in exstence and drained it in one gulp. Potion #1 had been exceedingly spicy, and Potion #2 seemed to be smooth and buttery. Before he could savor the taste of it, it had already slid down his throat, leaving only a refreshing scent of herbal fragrance behind.


    The next moment, it was reced by wave after wave of potent herbal strength.


    Potion #1 made him feel as though he were inflicted with the technique endemic to blood ants: [Bloodbath].


    Potion #2 made him feel as though he were being submerged in an ocean, his body battered and bruised by each wave that came his way, then reassembled and made whole again. Destruction and regeneration, regeneration and destruction, in an endless cycle.


    Even with his high pain tolerance, Zhang Lie found himself rolling on the ground, moaning as the potion wracked his body. At the same time, with his body screaming in pain, Zhang Lie could clearly feel his cells bursting with vitality.


    His pores widened and contracted, his muscles spasmed, his arteries and veins and capiries were broken down and reinforced.


    His body seemed to be reforging itself on a fundamental, gic level.


    ck, foul-smelling impurities stained his clothing, and he began to sweat as though he had just recovered from a debilitating sickness.


    His impurities purged, Zhang Lie had gained a measure of resistance against the potent medicinal energy, and he immediately began to marshal it as he activated his [Ninecarp Transformation].


    The medicinal energy, like cresting ocean waves, rushed into his gic core. The ck serpent within happily frolicked in the golden waves, and Zhang Lie felt the purity and density of his gic energy reach a new threshold.


    [For consuming an unknown potion, your mutated gene capacity has been increased.]


    1. I wouldn''t eat something that''s dying of old age, but that''s why I won''t be strong, I guess...