Chapter 477: The Celestial Bell Clan
The damp ground, still wet from the recent rain, instantly froze over. The ice layer spread swiftly, and within moments, vegetation over a hundred meters away was encased in ice sculptures.
This demonstrated the extreme cold emanating from within the metal crate.
A gust of wind carried the white mist further, finally revealing the massive figure beneath.
It was a bizarre creature, nearly three meters tall, with two heads positioned on either side of its shoulders. A necklace made of strung-together bones, radiating a black sheen in the air, hung around its neck.
Its arms were disproportionately long, reaching the ground even when standing upright, and abnormally thick.
The creature’s muscular structure was clearly defined, and even when motionless, one could sense the terrifying power surging within its body.
At that moment, this bizarre creature lay in a frozen slumber.
But as its body made contact with the outside world, the ice encasing it began to melt rapidly.
The slight twitching of its eyelids hinted that it was about to awaken from its slumber.
Gazing at the strange creature, the black shadow sighed helplessly.
If not for the dire circumstances, it would have preferred not to deploy this ultimate weapon.
The creature’s origins were linked to a technology developed by the Spirit Energy Clan known as “Chimera Superlife.” In essence, this was not a domain creature in the traditional sense, but rather a genetic fusion of multiple domain creatures.
This technology was part of the Spirit Energy Clan’s long-term strategic planning for the future.
The goal was to create a chimera superlifeform as a secret weapon for the Spirit Energy Clan.
The envisioned chimera creature would combine the superior genes of various lifeforms while eliminating any undesirable traits.
As a result, such a creature would possess virtually no weaknesses—except for its lack of wisdom.
To maintain control over the chimera lifeform, the Spirit Energy Clan stipulated that it must lack wisdom. Only then could it be effectively controlled.
A chimera lifeform with wisdom would inevitably become an uncontrollable disaster.
In truth, the technology for creating chimera lifeforms didn’t originate from the Spirit Energy Clan’s own ideas, but rather from knowledge already stored within the Holy Spirit Consciousness Repository.
When the Spirit Energy Clan acquired the Holy Spirit Consciousness Repository, it already contained a vast amount of technology and knowledge.
This knowledge and technology had been left behind by the previous owner of the Holy Spirit Consciousness Repository.
Although much of the knowledge and memories within were gradually fading away with the extinction of that race, nearing a self-updating state similar to formatting.
It wasn’t until the Spirit Energy Clan inherited the Holy Spirit Consciousness Repository that this formatting process ceased.
From the remaining knowledge and memories, the Holy Spirit Clan gleaned a wealth of information about the previous race that had used the Holy Spirit Consciousness Repository.
This race was called the Celestial Bell Clan.
During their golden age, the Celestial Bell Clan controlled a vast territory within the domain world, occupying multiple small worlds and standing as one of the dominant forces at the apex of the domain world’s power pyramid.
But in their pursuit of greater power, the clan made a fatal mistake.
Having risen to prominence through the Holy Spirit Consciousness Repository, the Celestial Bell Clan at its peak was challenged by an even more formidable Domain Force.
Despite unleashing all their resources, the Celestial Bell Clan proved no match for this rival force.
In their darkest hour, scholars of the Celestial Bell Clan proposed a radical solution: to create a powerful creature by combining the superior genes of various races, hoping it would turn the tide against the invading forces.
The plan was quickly put into action.
The Celestial Bell Clan extracted vast quantities of genetic material from enslaved races, as well as from their own elite warriors, and began the process of fusion and cultivation.
For this purpose, they selected a highly adaptable domain creature as the foundational template.
After years of painstaking cultivation, the chimera creature was finally born.
By then, the Celestial Bell Clan was already on the brink of defeat in their war against the superior race. They pinned all their hopes on the chimera lifeform, believing it could alter their fate.
But the Celestial Bell Clan failed to realize they had created not a savior, but a demon.
They had granted this demonic creature wisdom, believing that by controlling its life switch, they could determine its life or death.
However, the demon’s growth potential far exceeded their expectations.
Drawing upon the shared knowledge of the Holy Spirit Consciousness Repository, the demon rapidly matured. It soon understood the purpose of its creation and realized its life was controlled by the Celestial Bell Clan.
Greedily devouring the clan’s stored resources to fuel its growth, the demon used its acquired knowledge to gradually dismantle the life switch limitations imposed upon it.
As the Celestial Bell Clan faced overwhelming enemies, the demon revealed its fangs, delivering a fatal blow to the already struggling clan.
Thus, the Celestial Bell Clan withdrew from the historical stage of the Ten Thousand Clans Hegemony, while the demon chimera lifeform persisted in the domain world, growing into a calamity.
Fused with numerous superior genes, it was both greedy and insane.
Through endless growth, this demonic creature had been targeted by joint extermination efforts from multiple clans.
But the demon could not be killed.
Each time it died, it would explode, scattering countless demon eggs into the surrounding environment.
These demon eggs were essentially fragments of the demon creature itself. Upon hatching, they would frantically devour all life around them, absorbing the genetic sequences of those organisms. Driven by instinct, they would then seek out other hatched demon creatures, devour each other to achieve unification, and awaken the demon creature’s primary consciousness.
Nearly immortal, it had been annihilated countless times, yet always successfully resurrected.
Moreover, each time it completed unification and resurrected, its power would significantly increase.
Possessing extraordinary wisdom, the demon creature had been classified as a calamity by the races in its region during its prolonged growth. Periodically, it would unleash a tide of death and destruction.
Learning from this historical lesson, the Spirit Energy Clan, though they had mastered the technology of creating chimera lifeforms,
Yet they dared not imbue their chimeras with wisdom.
A chimera lifeform possessing wisdom was a double-edged sword. Once it lost control, it could bring catastrophic ruin upon their race.
Although this technology wasn’t the Spirit Energy Clan’s most prioritized future-planning project, the black shadow held it in high regard.
Lacking the Spirit Energy Clan’s resources and foundation, the black shadow, having defected midway, sought to rapidly gain power rivaling theirs. The only path to achieving this was to cut corners and overtake them through unconventional means.
Following a steady, grounded approach would lead nowhere.
Creating chimera lifeforms was undoubtedly fraught with risks, but it offered one of the few opportunities to leap ahead.
The Black Reaper Project was another such gamble.
To cease fearing the Spirit Energy Clan’s relentless pursuit, the black shadow needed the strength to challenge them directly.
And this two-headed chimera lifeform was one of its most formidable weapons.
It called it the “Two-Headed Demon.”
The experiments to cultivate chimera lifeforms had failed 4,395 times. The sole success, this creature, incorporated the superior traits of 378 domain creatures.
These included extraordinary regenerative abilities, terrifying strength, an affinity for art magic, and an innate talent for casting spells as if by instinct.
Moreover, the Two-Headed Demon possessed terrifying growth potential.
Its only flaw was its lack of wisdom, making it prone to losing control. When this happened, it would descend into a near-mad frenzy, remaining in that state for a period before recovering.
Compared to a conscious loss of control, this unconscious state was still within the black shadow’s acceptable parameters.
Normally, to restrain the two-headed demon, it kept the creature sealed within a specially designed ice prison, forcing it into a dormant state.
Before acquiring sufficient power, the black shadow had never considered activating the two-headed demon.
After all, the technology used to create this chimera lifeform originated from the Holy Spirit Consciousness Repository. If the Spirit Energy Clan discovered its traces, its existence would be completely exposed.
But facing Mu Qing’s terrifying power, the black shadow knew it could no longer remain hidden.
As the frost gradually receded from the two-headed demon’s body, a metal crate rose from the platform’s right side.
When the crate opened, it revealed a set of battle armor inscribed with numerous spirit energy symbols, along with a massive blood-red battle axe.
(End of the Chapter)