Chapter 86: A Kidney for a Kidney

He had actually placed a kidney there?

Once Hongyun made out the object upon the altar, his pupils contracted sharply, and a chill stirred in his heart.

At that moment, the body he had once possessed in the Nirvana Realm was revealing itself. Over the bones, flesh and sinews had already begun to grow, thread by thread, along with the meridians.

But the calamity aura still lingered. The moment any living flesh emerged upon those bones, it was stripped away by that same calamity energy, impossible to control.

The agony of having one’s bones scraped away touched the deepest recesses of Hongyun’s soul, yet he could no longer cry out; only the soul-flame within him trembled endlessly.

In an instant, the situation was developing toward some outcome he could not predict.

Before his gaze, the writhing tentacles drew him in, inch by inch, until he could not break free, and then set him down upon the altar.

Hongyun’s heart sank. Though he still did not understand its purpose, this turn of events, so far beyond his expectations and so contrary to his sense of where things should go, was truly beyond anything he had foreseen.

How, exactly, was he to break free?

Could it be that he would have to use his final trump card?

No. Before coming here, he had already measured the entire Azure Bottle Realm with the Eye of Calamity. Within the reach of his sight, there were several more places like this.

If he were to unveil his ultimate means merely because of the first such scene he encountered, then in this Azure Bottle Realm, he would likely have to abandon this consciousness altogether.

...

As Hongyun gritted his teeth and held on, the kidney bound to him by tentacles began to move slowly.

It tugged little by little at several strands within itself, inching gradually toward Hongyun’s flesh.

Under Hongyun’s incredulous gaze, that kidney slowly shifted to the side of the calamity seed. The tentacles wound around his ribs and spine, placing it into the position where Hongyun’s own kidney had once been.

After the kidney fixed itself into place, a faintly cheerful emotion rose from it. The fleshly tendrils then extended across the spine, and on the empty opposite side, the tentacles gathered little by little before taking shape into another kidney.

The two kidneys replaced the original organs of Hongyun’s host body, seizing the nest for themselves.

Once the kidneys were fixed in place, the calamity aura that had been scraping away Hongyun’s flesh like a blade came to a halt, then slowly gathered into his body.

His flesh began to grow in layers: muscle, sinew, skin, hair; the five organs matured within his abdomen and chest. The kidney that had once belonged to Hongyun was absorbed and fused into one with the kidney formed from calamity aura.

After all the meridians and calamity energy converged, a heart containing both vitality and calamity slowly took shape.

Thump.

Thump.

With each steady, forceful beat of the heart, Hongyun suddenly opened his eyes and rose into the sky.

At this point, he could no longer feel the calamity aura in the lake below. Looking down, the layered waters that had once shown distinct strata had now turned completely blue.

Above his head, clouds of calamity gathered thickly, already crackling with thunder and lightning, yet unable to find the host that was meant to undergo tribulation.

Seeing this, Hongyun showed no mercy toward the vast calamity cloud. He plunged straight into it, using thunder to temper his body and calamity aura to nourish his realm. In an instant, lightning flecks covered his flesh, yet he remained completely unharmed.

...

Only several hours later did the calamity clouds disperse and the skies clear. Hongyun looked at the lingering moisture in the area; though it remained, the place no longer carried the same feeling it once had.

At this moment, joy and concern coexisted in his heart.

What delighted him was that he had already fully absorbed the calamity aura of this place. The total amount of calamity energy in his body was now comparable to that of a demon king.

What concerned him was this: the kidney that had entered his body was, by reason, nothing more than a dead thing, yet within its scattered fragments it had brought him traces of memory.

The most intense of these memories was anger and unwillingness.

He did not know why this kidney had remained here, nor why it had chosen him, let alone the scattered memories tangled within it.

For a moment, Hongyun gazed out across the Azure Bottle Realm. Beneath the several thick pillars of calamity light, he felt a kind of oppressive pressure.

There was surely a secret hidden within this place.

Something earthshaking.

...

Hm?

Just as Hongyun was deep in thought, the lake water here suddenly began to recede little by little.

At first it was not obvious, but Hongyun, who was always attentive to details, nevertheless noticed it.

Cautiously, he raised his flesh body a little higher, watching the lake sink bit by bit until it revealed a huge skeleton, coiled and spiraled beneath the surface.

This was...

Hongyun looked at the remains, which had wrapped around the entire lake twice, and could not help but be astonished. Setting aside everything else, just from its size alone, it was no ordinary beast. At the very least, it had once reached the Butterfly Transformation stage, perhaps even a realm beyond that.

As for whether it had been the guardian of this place or some great demon king that had strayed in by chance, that was no longer something Hongyun could know.

Under his perception, there was not the slightest trace of life left in it; all of its essence had been drained away.

It probably would not even require Hongyun to touch it. A single gust of wind would be enough to turn it into bone dust.

Hongyun cast one more deep look at the place, then drew a long breath, feeling the surging calamity aura within himself, and turned to leave.

...

Hongyun returned once more to the vicinity of the ancestral lands of the Howling Moon Wolf Clan. Looking at the vast and rising presence of demon beasts coming and going here, he swallowed and let his eyes fill with the calm confidence of a man holding all the cards.

If, in the past, I had acted against the Howling Moon Wolf Clan, my odds of victory would have been no more than twenty percent.

But now, my chances are at least seventy percent or more.

With his hands clasped behind his back, Hongyun gazed into the distance, his heart utterly still. At present, the Howling Moon Wolf Clan was nothing more than nourishment to feed the wings he was growing.

However, if he were to launch a direct assault, there would still likely be some trouble. It would be better to divide and weaken them first.

Having made up his mind, he stepped forward, but just as he was about to move, a faint thought seemed to surface in his mind.

He raised a hand and touched his gleaming bald head, regret nearly overflowing from his eyes. With a trace of helplessness, he lowered his hand and in the blink of an eye donned a large robe that concealed his entire body.

Yes, ever since he had replaced the kidney, for some reason, his hair had stopped growing altogether.

No matter how he urged the power of his Nirvana Realm, not a single strand would grow.

In just a few steps, he reached the high sky. Drawing a deep breath, he lifted a hand and formed a grasp over the Soul-Swallowing Saber sheath. In an instant, the Tanyu blade that had been hidden within his Cloud-Skimming Wings appeared inside the sheath.

Hongyun pressed his thumb against the guard and swung the blade.

In a flash, a massive blade radiance appeared and fell toward the ground below.