Chapter 30: A Few Seconds in Heaven Until Spending an Eternity in Hell.
Zed felt an electrifying jolt throughout his body, but instead of pain, it gave him a huge feeling of euphoria. It was as if he was in ecstasy, and had merged with the seventh heaven. It was a gratifying experience, and Zed felt so much happiness that he unconsciously began to drool a large amount of saliva.
His mouth has been gaping while groaning unintelligible sounds from time to time. His pupils became diluted while his mind experienced extreme ecstasy.
"AhhHhhHH.... AaaaHHaHhh...."
Zed appeared even worse than a person on drugs. Standing up while trembling, He felt so much happiness that he could even lose control of his bladder.
That however, did not happen as-
Smack!
Thud.
Zed used all his strength to punch himself in the head. With what little sanity that he had left, his first instinct was to knock off the hallucinations that he had been seeing.
He knew that he had to get ahold of himself, but the pleasure was making his body go limp. At the same time, his main mana circuit was glowing an intense blue light as it kept absorbing the remaining essence from the mana circuit he had consumed.
The mana inside him was being expelled while his limp body began to slightly levitate into the air.
Seconds later, the extreme light from his circuits began to shine brightly, enough to make them visible through his body.
And then-
"AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
Zed howled in pain as his body began to convulse. He was experiencing a multitude of injuries including hemorrhaging, bone fractures, shock, and many more things that would kill a normal person.
The pain didn't last long as he fainted not soon after.
As soon as he lost consciousness, his body fell to the ground, and the mana raging around him dispersed.
Thud.
-
"You..."
The leader of the pursuers was speechless.
Moments ago, he was overwhelming the little girl while observing the supreme martial arts she was using, but now...
He found himself surrounded by the enemy group. The princess was there along with their escorts who are peak qi foundation experts.
And in front of him was the little girl, looking at him with a cold gaze while grinning as if he had fallen into her trap.
The leader let out a slight chuckle until-
Boom!
He released an intense qi aura, pressuring everyone around him.
"You must be underestimating me... you think some qi foundation experts and mortals could deal damage... to me? Who is at the peak core formation realm?"
Earlier, he had only been playing around with the girl out of curiosity, but now... He wasn't going to hold back.
While it was true that normally, hundreds of Qi foundation masters wouldn't match up against a Core formation master, this didn't apply to the royal family's personal escorts.
Although they may be only at the peak of Qi Foundation, they were capable enough to beat normal core formation masters.
That was why he began to act cautiously and release everything he has from the start.
On one hand, he hoped to intimidate them, while, on the other, he was trying to find an opportunity to escape this encirclement.
He most definitely had to leave alive in order to spread the news.
Meixiang's eyes furrowed while observing the battlefield.
Counting their group including herself, there should be seven of them...
But she only counted six.
'Where's Jingfei?'
However, she could not continue with her concern as their enemy began to move.
-
Meanwhile, Jingfei was running towards the direction where her brother Xin disappeared.
Her tiny legs carried her across the forest and uneven ground. Due to how fast she had been running, she tripped, and fell due to the huge roots of the trees that she passed through.
But regardless, her worries forced her to keep going forward.
Just as she thought, she found several traces of a battle while continuing in the direction she was going.
Burnt leaves and wood were the norm, but they were strangely doused with water, as if rain had passed by and killed the forest fire.
Eventually, the trail led her to a field and a meadow that connected to a tall mountain.
Once again, she saw that patches of the meadows were burnt, but the damage did not spread as water was used to extinguish them.
She kept following the trail, and soon, she saw a body lying on the ground near the entrance of a cave. As she squinted her eyes, she saw wolves circling around it.
Two of them were already feasting on a particular black object that was separate from the collapsed body.
It didn't take her long to recognize the body as her brother Xin.
Immediately, she rushed towards them and took out her spear.
"Growl..."
The wolves growled at the intruder who disturbed their feast.
Five wolves circled around her brother and she didn't hesitate to engage in combat.
She had only learned the basics in hunting and battling against beasts, but this would be her first fight without anyone to guide or save her.
With trembling hands and slightly weak knees, she faced the incoming beasts with a strong will, despite the fear that was creeping in the back of her mind.
The first three wolves intercepted her as they lunged towards her.
Jingfei assumed a stance as she first attacked the closest wolf near her, which was the middle one.
"Growl!!"
Its fearsome fangs were exposed as it snarled at Jingfei. It knew that she was holding a weapon, and that it could potentially die if it was stabbed.
Jingfei stabbed forward with her spear, but it missed as the wolf evaded it.
The two other wolves came from both her left and right side. She narrowly dodged them as she jumped backwards.
The wolves ran to surround her again, but Jingfei moved faster.
She went to attack the middle wolf. The wolf was not prepared for her sudden speed and ended up panicking the moment it saw the spearhead heading towards its face.
It tried to dodge, but Jingfei learned her lesson and directed the spearhead towards the direction where the wolf would dodge.
Stab!
Blood spurted as her spearhead landed successfully in the wolf's right eye, all the way to its brains.
"Growl!"
She didn't celebrate early and immediately pulled her spear back as she felt movement from behind her.
With a quick spinning motion, she drew an arc in the air with her spear.
Blood was spilled once more as another wolf was slashed across its face.
"whimper..."
The wolf cried, as it desperately backed away after receiving the injury.
The last wolf of the first three observed what had happened and decided to stay cautious.
All this happened within less than 10 seconds and Jingfei felt more confident in continuing their battle.
But, she couldn't stay idle when she saw that the two wolves around her brother were beginning to sniff him.
Looking at the free meal in front of them, the two wolves didn't bother with anything else as they decided to eat Zed immediately.
"Whimper!"
One of the wolves cried as a spear was pierced into its chest. It was still alive and it tried to get rid of the sharp object lodged in its body.
Step. Step. Step. Step.
Jingfei ran, grabbed her spear, and stabbed it further inside the wolf's chest.
The wolf died and only two more wolves were left. The other two wolves who were eating the black meat were now looking at her with hostility in their eyes.
All in all, there were now a total of four wolves left from the original seven wolves.
Jingfei withdrew her spear that was still lodged inside the recent wolt that she had killed.
The nervousness from the beginning of the battle was gone and all that was left was a hunter, looking at her next prey.
The wolves ignored the fear they instinctively felt, and proceesed to surround the lone girl.
"Growl...."
Ferocious snarling and growling sounds could be heard from around her but Jingfei stood straight, ready to fight back while protecting her brother Xin who was still asleep behind her.
-
Darkness filled his vision as Zed tried to move his body, but the more he moved, the more he felt like he was falling into quicksand.
Zed felt desparate as he could not feel air entering his lungs. He kicked, tumbled, and turned, but all he was met with was this sluggish darkness.
It was the horrifying feeling of drowning slowly.
Eventually-
GASP!
He was met with bright light.
Sweat fell from his forehead as he kept taking large amount of breaths.
Zed took a moment to calm himself down and feel his surroundings.
"Haa... Haa... Haa..."
He rubbed his eyes and sat up from the ground.
Zed wanted to take a moment and remember what had happened before he passed out, but the situation didn't allow him as he heard nearby fighting noises.
He looked at the source and saw a little girl in yellow robes, holding a spear while fighting two wolves at once.
Her moves looked restricted and awkward, indicating that this was her first time fighting against these types of beasts.
Nevertheless, she was an experienced martial artist, so she at least knew the basics.
As a result, Zed found several wolf carcasses around him.
He tried to speak or stand up, but he realized that his body was still weak and sluggish.
But he still forced himself to move since he didn't want his other little sister to continue suffering for his sake.
"Fei.."
A hoarse voice came out from his mind.
Now that he can think clearer, he immediately observed the state of his body and he was immensely shocked.
'No... way.'
His mana circuits had actually grown larger in size. Not only that, but their growth began to affect his muscles and organ, sharing the bountiful effects of mana.
Recounting the events earlier, he knew he felt like he was taken to heaven and then was suddenly dragged into hell.
He knew that the injuries his body sustained at that time were real, but now...
Saying his body was healthy was an understatement. All his muscles, organs, and even nerves were slightly influenced by mana.
And he was doing it unconsciously.
Countless words wouldn't be enough to explain Zed's current thoughts towards the effect of consuming another person's main mana circuit.
But in layman's terms; Eat main mana circuit = Mana circuit growth = Mutation of the mana faintly flowing through his entire body.
So Zed's thoughts were; More mana circuit growth = Mutation of mana to strongly flow in body = His entire body acted like a mana circuit?
Mana circuits were called mana circuits because they acted as the receptors of mana.
Without them, then one could not hope to become a mage at all.
The mana that stays in the body could only flow through the mana circuits and one needed to carefully lead the mana outside the mana circuits if they wanted to explore their body with mana.
Which was how Zed had been doing it when he first opened his mana circuits, as well as when he was looking for the last and main mana circuit.
But after consuming Wan Chao's main mana circuit, Zed's mana circuits grew to the point that mana was subconsciously flowing inside his body.
This is, of course- a good thing, since that meant that his mana reserves had greatly improved because his mana capacity wasn't limited to his mana circuits, and instead to his entire body.
Every single part of him, his organs, innards, and muscles, they were all feeling mana, albeit, a faint amount.
Still though- this did not stop Zed's ambitions from growing larger and larger.
'...If I consume enough mana circuits... can my entire body wield mana to the point where I won't even use my mana circuits anymore?'
No- what if... every single part of my body becomes a mana circuit?'
He drew a deep gasp as he thought, 'Is that what it means to become the God of Magic?'
Unknown to the person himself, Zed was suffering through a side effect.
This was evident as his priorities were being jumbled with him forgetting about the current urgent situation which was Jingfei fighting the wolves.
Edited By: WorthyAdversary