Chapter 239 - Self-sacrifice for the Evil God

"I want to try. People shall know my great name!"

Dark Crow asked Lu Ran for the Divine Deer Pendant. Previously, the pendant had been used exclusively for Captain Doofus and Sudden Death King’s training—one for energy compression, the other for body tempering.

They fully utilized the Divine Deer Pendant’s healing capabilities, allowing them to endure high-intensity training without permanent injury. This was a major factor in their immense strength.

Without the pendant, they wouldn’t have achieved their current level, even if everything else had remained the same.

Dark Crow had only ever used the Divine Deer Pendant to heal the backlash from using the Eye of the Evil God. Though the repeated cycle of backlash and healing improved its skill proficiency, unlike Captain Doofus and Sudden Death King, Dark Crow’s combat power saw only marginal gains.

Its training was far less efficient than that of Lu Ran’s other familiars.

While the Eye of the Evil God could augment Dark and Spirit attributes, its primary function was reconnaissance.

With Lu Ran’s reminder, Dark Crow suddenly realized its mistake—its previous training method had been ineffective, yielding too few results.

If the eyes of the Dark Sea Octopus could be consumed as an amplifying resource, then its own eyes should be edible too. And their quality had to be far superior to that of some stinking octopus!

It was the Eye of the Evil God, after all!

While it wasn’t on par with Treasure-grade resources, it should be the most compatible one. Since it was originally part of its own body, its effectiveness should be doubled.

Under normal circumstances, self-cannibalism wasn’t a viable cultivation method. If a powerful organ like the Eye of the Evil God were damaged, it would be extremely difficult to heal.

But for Lu Ran and the Divine Deer Pendant, this wasn’t an issue. The Divine Deer was a follower of the Life Dragon, and according to legend, the original host of the Evil God’s eye was nothing more than an ant compared to it.

With that power at his disposal, Dark Crow felt the self-cannibalism technique was entirely feasible. If it consumed a massive quantity of Eyes of the Evil God, its power should undergo a qualitative transformation.

The effects would rival those of any Treasure-grade resource. After consuming enough Eyes of the Evil God, the strengthening effect would surely not be inferior to rare resources. The key factor was compatibility!

"My king, I want to try it!" Dark Crow exclaimed excitedly.

It was more thrilled about discovering a new technique than about eating high-quality resources.

Ummm...

"I'm on to you." Lu Ran’s mouth twitched.

Dark Crow was truly demented.

Although Captain Doofus and Sudden Death King used the pendant for training, they weren’t exactly eager to get hurt. Dark Crow, on the other hand, was willing to do anything to grow stronger. Undoubtedly, it had the most relentless mindset among Lu Ran’s familiars.

After giving it some thought, Lu Ran decided to try it. The method sounded twisted, but Dark Crow followed the path of the Evil God. And in nature, animals eating their own flesh wasn’t unheard of.

Cats, for instance, consumed their placentas after giving birth. It was rich in nutrients and helped them recover quickly—Lu Ran had seen it himself.

The Eye of the Evil God was like a placenta. Dark Crow could consume it for its nutritional value, while the Divine Deer Pendant would regenerate a new one using Nature energy.

Essentially, the pendant acted as a conduit, allowing Dark Crow to absorb Nature energy and enhance its strength.

Lu Ran was finally convinced—the idea might actually work.

"I want to try it, my king!"

"Fine, I’ll let you give it a shot," Lu Ran acquiesced.

"Eat the Soul Scarecrow first while I prepare. I’ll enter a secret realm with a forest environment. Healing your eyes will consume a lot of energy. We’re lucky to have Limitless City—otherwise, Green Sea City would be a barren wasteland by now."

"You are wise, my king!" Dark Crow proclaimed.

Hahahahahahahahaha!

It had been worried about catching up to General Lightning Dragon, given the power of the Dragon King’s bloodline. But now, with this technique, its confidence soared.

***

"Manager Ying, I'm heading to Limitless City for some last-minute training. I’ll go to the public Limitless City in the Arctic Ocean tomorrow once I’m ready. Please take good care of Baby Cloud."

Manager Ying rolled its eyes.

"Don’t be late!"

"Manager Ying is wise!" Lu Ran replied as he teleported away.

"..."

Is he using Super Beast Mimicry on Dark Crow?

Lu Ran typically used Super Beast Mimicry on Captain Doofus to train in swordsmanship, which was fine. Using it on Sudden Death King would enhance his defense, but it would also turn him into a punching bag. While Lu Ran could endure hardships, he wasn’t about to seek them out unnecessarily.

He had decided that once all his familiars evolved, he would follow Sudden Death King’s training method of lightning tempering to surpass it.

If he gained Sudden Death King’s defense and combined it with Captain Doofus’ sword intent, he might even be able to rip apart Level 30 Champion creatures with his bare hands.

The level 2 secret realm—Green Forest was an ordinary secret realm. The only special thing about it was that it had the highest concentration of Grass-attribute energy of any secret realm below level 2.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Because of this, it was populated by a large number of Grass-attribute creatures, but that’s not what Lu Ran was there for.

He was just here to pay money to charge up on Nature energy.

"Let's begin!"

At Lu Ran's command, Dark Crow flew out with a resolute look in its eyes. It then used its wings to dig out one of its Eyes of the Evil God.

Splorch!

Blood quickly gushed out. Dark Crow’s empty eye socket was like an abyss.

If nothing else, Lu Ran's familiars all had remarkable pain tolerance. None of them uttered a sound no matter how serious their injuries were unlike any other familiar or even secret realm bosses.

Pain was nothing to them.

"

Caw!

My strength is declining..."

After ripping out one of its own eyes, Dark Crow's condition began to weaken.

This kind of injury was much more serious than Captain Doofus losing a few teeth or Sudden Death King breaking some scales. Those were relatively common injuries. Even after taking damage like that, Captain Doofus or Sudden Death King wouldn’t be too affected.

However, The Eye of the Evil God was different. It was a vital organ for Dark Crow, as most of its abilities were based on the eye. Without it, it was pretty much 90% crippled.

"Please, Divine Deer!" Lu Ran raised the Divine Deer Pendant piously.

As the Lu Village Chief, he had to take the lead to show piety towards the Divine Deer.

Under the golden-green halo, Dark Crow's eyes basked in the healing light. The eye quickly regenerated. It was as good as new in under a minute, but the Divine Deer Pendant appeared depleted.

Ca-caw!

After a fresh eye grew from the bleeding socket, Dark Crow looked at its old one and tossed it in its mouth without another word.

Gulp.

Lu Ran watched with great anticipation.

With the effects of the Agate of Devouring it ate earlier, cannibalizing its power allowed great changes to quickly come over Dark Crow.

"What are the effects?"

Its Spirit and Dark energy surged simultaneously, causing it to emit a dark aura. The most important aspect was that its pupils seemed to grow deeper.

Dark Crow looked at Lu Ran with its fanatical eyes.

“This feels no worse than when I ate the resources from before."

"Holy shit!" Lu Ran gritted his teeth and steeled his resolve.

As long as it’s effective... Let fear wash over this secret realm!

***

A while later...

Caw!

After eating multiple evil eyes, Dark Crow's state finally underwent a qualitative change.

"This, this..."

Dark Crow’s aura had become even more terrifying. Although it is only a Superior Champion at the moment, it wasn’t any weaker than Captain Doofus while it was wielding a sword. Its combat power definitely met the criteria for an Intermediate King.

Lu Ran and pals had been in the secret realms for a long time, but no ferocious beasts dared to approach them. The aura that Dark Crow emitted was too ominous.

Even Lu Ran got goosebumps looking at Dark Crow.

It had a pair of dark eyes with red vertical pupils that were already scary enough, but Lu Ran and Dark Crow discovered that as it consumed more Eyes of the Evil God, the feathers on its forehead had parted to reveal a third eye.

"Damn."

Lu Ran was frightened when he saw the third eye.

"My eyes have become stronger..." Dark Crow muttered once it broke out of its stupor.

So cool!

"We must continue, my king! We can't stop now!" Dark Crow exclaimed.

Lu Ran gulped. He started to feel like the situation had become a runaway train.

A day later, Dark Crow finally hit a wall.

The effects of the Agate of Devouring had most likely worn off or the technique had simply reached its limits. It no longer yielded significant results.

Although it didn’t have any obvious changes in power, Dark Crow’s appearance became increasingly weird.

It still looked like a huge black crow, but once it spread its wings, Eyes of the Evil God could be seen all over its body. Such a terrifying appearance could frighten the Evil God itself.

The Undead attribute was considered weird, but it was nothing compared to the present Dark Crow. It was like a child standing before a giant.

Caw!

Fortunately, Dark Crow could hide the extra eyes, or else Lu Ran wouldn’t dare to show it in public. It might frighten nearby children.

Dark Crow had become a Champion-rank familiar that could jump ranks to kill King-rank creatures like Captain Doofus.

Lu Ran calculated the time and said, "Times up. Let's go.

“It’s about to be a crazy day. I can’t wait to see what you evolve into..."