Chapter 473: The Meaning of Life

In the center of an outburst of green light, Zhou Ying's hair rapidly grew so long it reached her leg, fluttering in an invisible wind. and the vitality radiating from her was visible to the naked eye. She seemed to have become one with the land.

Fenghe's eyes opened wide. "What's going on? Some form of interspecies assimilation? This—This can't be!"

Fenghe had delved deeply into biological research, and he had never, ever seen such a phenomenon. The assimilation between Zhou Ying and the shaman of the wood spirit went against all he knew of biology.

He had examined lifeforms in the past which could merge of their own volition, but none that would give off such vitality as he was witnessing.

Fenghe's eyes filled with desire. "I must have you. You'll be a breakthrough!"

Zhou Ying might well help him unlock the key to ultimate biological supremacy, the apex of biological development. The task that his godfather had given him, whatever other matters filled his mind—all that had been discarded. His singular desire was to analyze Zhou Ying's transformation in meticulous detail.

A green pulse of energy emanated from Zhou Ying, spreading to her surroundings like a wave. As it reached the creatures that Fenghe had made, Fenghe's face turned alarmed.

"How could this be? It's impossible!"

That energy, that brimming lifeforce, should only have had the power to heal. It radiated naturally from the amalgamation of Zhou Ying and the shaman of the wood spirits, and would benefit all lifeforms nearby. To the spliced, monstrous creatures before her, however, there was nothing more deadly.

The creatures suddenly began to scream. They were composed of varying numbers of lifeforms, ranging from a few to a few dozen. Zhou Ying's energy cut them apart where they were joined, and new flesh then grew out of those wounds, arms, brains, legs—the creatures were each being remade whole.

Even the hundred-headed hydra was affected by the energy that Zhou Ying gave off. The hundreds of heads disentangled themselves and were likewise split apart into a huge beetle and hundreds of snakes.

Zhou Ying's energy had reversed all of Fenghe's creations in one fell swoop.

Even more astoundingly, it had regrown flesh when there was none to be found—it had regenerated whole bodies from just a constituent part, as though a lizard was able to regrow from its chopped-off tail...

Considering how many lifeforms comprised the creations that Fenghe had made, the process of regrowth was unsurprisingly gruesome. He had attached half a body to an arm, an extra brain to another creature, split apart a brain into fourths and pasted them all around a body, added and subtracted and duplicated body parts all over...

Fenghe's own body was being affected by the wave of vitality. Flesh grew out of his compound eyes, which Fenghe decisively pulled out of his body.

Scales appeared on his arms, which grew massively until they bulged into the talons of a gigantic dragon. Fenghe cut them off without fear. All sorts of lifeforms rushed out of his stomach. Fenghe was no longer able to control his body, and the modifications that he had made to himself were becoming undone.

Despite his life's work being unraveled, Fenghe didn't seem to be fearful, angry, or frightened. He smiled so happily that Zhou Ying was rather disturbed by the sight.

"So this, this is the true meaning of life, the pinnacle of creation! I thought myself a pilgrim on this path, but I've clearly gone off-track—this is how life is, how life should be! Life is far more frightening, far more miraculous, than I could ever have imagined!"

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Three different heads grew out of Fenghe's body, turning him into a four-headed nightmare.

.

Zhou Ying stared at him placidly, her face a mask of calm. "Those who seek this forbidden path will ultimately be devoured by their own creations."

The rock spirits shied away at the frightening sight that seemed to go against natural law. The creatures that Fenghe had created began to balloon into a mass of flesh. All sorts of reconstituted lifeforms and alien races tried to escape from the mass of flesh, but they were trapped within.

Even Fenghe, the sura king who had seemed nigh-undefeatable, who was himself composed of a number of lifeforms spliced together, was suffering a similar fate.

Fenghe wasn't the strongest of the nine godsons of the monarch of stars because the sura kings' specialties and weaknesses countered each other's. If Moyan were here, Fenghe's combat strength would be greatly reduced, and the same would be true for Gaoyuan. However, on brute strength alone, Fenghe was no weaker than any other sura king.

Lifeform after lifeform, alien race after alien race, tried to escape from Fenghe's ballooning body, tearing it apart in their desire to do so.

The rock spirits had never seen a horror film, and when they saw Fenghe's body literally bursting apart from within, they quailed in fear.

Each creature that burst out of Fenghe's body was itself an amalgamation of a number of creatures, which likewise swelled up into a ball of flesh on striking the green pulse of energy radiating from Zhou Ying.

And all this had been caused by Zhou Ying, she who had become a goddess of nature.

Zhou Ying radiated an imposing but benevolent aura. Her long hair fluttered in an immaterial breeze. The green pulse of energy that limned her body made her look beautiful, sanctified, and holy, as though she were a true goddess.

And yet it was her who had caused the nightmares that lay in front of them now.

Fenghe's body had been torn apart by the creatures inhabiting his flesh. Over ninety percent of his body had been composed of other lifeforms, even his brain. Under the effects of Zhou Ying's frightening aura, he was unable to preserve even the basic structure of his body.

His body continued to morph and pulse as more and more lifeforms tried to rush out. Nevertheless, amid this nightmare, Fenghe continued to laugh. "This is the true meaning of life! This is its pinnacle! Beautiful and cruel, palliative and dangerous—I was a fool not to have realized this sooner!"

"[Avatar of the Fae: Earthbound Prison]!" Zhou Ying released all her stored energy at once, causing the ground to quake as thousands of jade-green wood dragons rushed out of the earth.

Each was at least thirty meters long, and they easily covered the skies with their combined bodies. Almost as one, they swooped down to the fleshy remnants of Fenghe and his creations, turning them into petrified wood...