Inside the underground cave.
After awakening the Nine Infant Bloodline, the beast clone's body size soared to over 30 meters, transforming into a true behemoth.
The nine snake heads operated under a unified consciousness but could perform different tasks simultaneously. Multitasking became effortless, and with nine brains at his disposal, his efficiency in learning and completing tasks multiplied several times over. The improvement in aptitude was astonishing!
"Now that I've awakened this bloodline and gained a measure of self-preservation, it's time to leave this comfort zone and explore the outside world. Staying here and shutting myself off from the world won't help my growth."
Li Chang'an assessed the energy within his body, estimating that it was roughly equivalent to that of a ten-thousand-year soul beast. However, his actual combat power undoubtedly exceeded the level of a ten-thousand-year soul beast.
With such strength, he possessed a preliminary ability to protect himself in this forest of soul beasts. Moreover, he had nine lives. Even if he encountered an unimaginably powerful foe and perished, he could revive. Since that was the case, there was nothing to fear.
Just as he wriggled his massive body and prepared to leave the underground cave, he discovered that the passage, which had previously been easy to navigate, had become extremely narrow due to his new, colossal form.
After all, in his Nine Infant state, the segmented snake tails alone had grown far thicker and more robust compared to his previous slender form, not to mention the nine elongated snake heads.
"If only my body could shrink."
This thought surfaced in Li Chang'an's mind.
The next moment, his gigantic body began to shrink like a deflating balloon. In the blink of an eye, he had transformed from a towering creature over 30 meters long into a tiny being under 3 meters—and still shrinking.
"What the heck?"
"Why am I getting smaller?"
"Stop! Stop!"
"This size is enough!"
Li Chang'an quickly focused his thoughts, commanding his body to stop shrinking. Instantly, his body stabilized at a length of one meter.
"It actually stopped?"
"Could I control my body's size and shrink at will?"
"Does the Nine Infant bloodline have this ability too?"
He was astonished. This ability had not become instinctive when the bloodline awakened, unlike the more apparent powers of controlling water and fire and possessing nine lives. Thus, he had never realized it until now.
Still, it seemed that this ancient bloodline from a previous life was far more complex than he initially thought. There were likely other abilities he had yet to discover.
For example, earlier, when his human form had just surfaced on the lake, he had witnessed strange "threads" connecting the entire world, as if every living being were a marionette entangled by these threads.
This, too, appeared to be an ability stemming from the Nine Infant bloodline. It was simply less obvious than his control over elements and extended lifespan.
"Forget it—let's get out first."
Deciding that experimenting with abilities would be more practical outdoors, Li Chang'an resolved to leave the cave.
He slithered his massive body toward the cave entrance.
Traversing the long tunnel, he soon reached the surface.
One of the snake heads parted the dense foliage obscuring the entrance, while the remaining eight scanned the surroundings. Eighteen eyes comprehensively surveyed the area from all angles, ensuring there were no threats.
After confirming safety, the rest of his serpent body slowly emerged from the passage.
"Let me test if shrinking my body affects my strength."
Li Chang'an swung his long tail like a whip, slamming it forcefully against the ground.
"Boom!"
Though his tail appeared small, the impact produced a thunderous explosion.
A single strike left a deep pit on the ground, with numerous fine cracks radiating outward.
"It seems that shrinking my body doesn't reduce my strength or physical durability."
Relieved by the result, Li Chang'an recalled fictional characters who lost power when shrinking and even got crushed to death by ordinary humans despite their previous might. He certainly didn't want to end up as one of those unfortunate cases.
Fortunately, his test confirmed that his body's shrinkage did not compromise its original strength or toughness.
"How did I shrink earlier?"
Recalling the sensation from before, Li Chang'an's body began expanding like an inflating balloon.
In the blink of an eye, he reverted to his previous size of over 30 meters.
"If I can shrink, can I also grow larger?"
He focused on imagining his body becoming larger.
At first, nothing happened.
But soon, he felt energy rapidly depleting within his body, and then his form started to expand.
In mere moments, his length exceeded 40 meters—and kept growing.
As energy continued to be consumed, his size relentlessly increased.
By the time his energy was completely depleted, Li Chang'an had transformed into a hundred-meter behemoth!
His massive lower body coiled into a circle, and the nine long snake heads rose high, scanning the surroundings. Even just the upper half of his body towering upright broke through the forest canopy, offering a clear view above the treetops.
From this vantage point, he saw a vast sea of green stretching endlessly.
"Shrinking requires no energy."
"But enlarging consumes a lot of energy."
"There's also a time limit on remaining enlarged—once the time's up, I revert to normal."
Li Chang'an sensed his current state, flicking his thick tail slightly.
Instantly, the ground trembled as if struck by an earthquake, causing numerous large trees to topple.
"However, despite the energy consumption, my physical strength and durability increase proportionally when I grow larger. This isn't just for show—it's true power."
"If my energy reserves become vast enough in the future, wouldn't I be able to grow indefinitely? Perhaps I could even match legendary creatures like the World-Encircling Jörmungandr, growing large enough to wrap around the planet—or even devour half a universe."
Li Chang'an's heart raced with excitement at the thought.
This ability to manipulate his size was an incredible surprise—a true divine gift!
It resembled the mythical divine ability Heavenly Transformation, which granted beings immense control over their size.
The only question remaining: was there a limit to how large he could grow?
If there were no limit, and it all depended on his energy reserves, then this ability was utterly terrifying.
It meant that as long as he had enough energy, he could potentially become large enough to treat planets like candy or devour entire star systems.
The future was indeed promising!
(End of Chapter)