Chapter 858 - 858: Barbarians... Assemble!
The blood was hot. You could see the fog slowly build up in the room, making the temperature rise.
Ma Li sank beneath the surface, the blood closing over her neck, slowly filling her mouth and nose and lungs. She should have drowned. Or at least panicked a little.
Instead, she breathed it in like air. The blood flowed into her, through her organs, and rose into the veins. Being a golden core cultivator allowed her to hold her breath for a long time.
But not even a gag reflex of so much thick fluid running down her throat shows how much she had trained herself.
The Barbarian Queen, who had appeared to help her out in absorbing the bloodline of the barbarians and modify her body, was surprised to see how fast she had adapted herself to the blood.
'At this rate, she might even finish this by the end of this month.' The first barbarian queen thought. Her soul body shimmering with orange and pinkish hues.
Ma Li could feel her body changing.
Her bones were growing thicker, becoming denser and stronger.
Her muscles, which had been torn or burned from the torment of the trials, were slowly healing themselves while going beyond their original capabilities.
Barbarians were a race blessed by nature; their bodies may look like those of humans, but they held power that went beyond simple cultivation enhancement. Their bodies were said to rival the spirit beasts' and could go toe to toe with one of the same ranks, which humans were incapable of.
Ma Li's skin toughened, developing a resilience that could shrug off blows that would cripple normal humans. the color of her skin dulled as it went through the process. Slowly she was growing in size and mass.
But it wasn't just physical changes.
Her meridians had toughened, becoming capable of channeling types and quantities of qi that would have shattered her human body.
Her cultivation base expanded and restructured according to barbarian principles. If before she needed to channel her qi with grace and delicacy, she could not blast it through any part she desired without taking damage.
And deeper still, at the very core of her being, her psychology went through a certain change as well.
The fears, the hesitations, the little voices that whispered "this is too much pain/pleasure" or "you should stop"—all of them dissolved in the blood. Now she could proudly say, "What is too much? I want more!"
Ma Li finally felt what she had been longing for.
Pure freedom.
Ma Li opened her eyes, and beneath the blood, visions that were not hers started appearing in her mind.
The Barbarian Queen's memories, flooding into her consciousness.
Battles she fought and the pain she felt—she could see it but not feel them. When she felt dejected seeing this, a voice comforted her. "Those emotions or feelings are not yours to experience. Go out there and make your own."
'Yes,' Ma Li thought, welcoming the experience and the techniques once used by the barbarian queen. She could feel the power in them just from the images she saw. A casual push could level the surface of the forest, wiping trees, mountains, and lakes alike. 'YES.'
The time slowly passed, and soon Ma Li finished digesting every piece of the Barbarian Queen's legacy.
And when it happened, Ma Li stood still at the bottom of the empty pit. The blood had long vanished, absorbed within her body, transforming it.
She rose from the center of the empty basin, steam rising from her skin, her eyes burning with crimson light. She was no longer a normal human.
She had become a barbarian. Yet, her ties to her human genes were still there.
But she had never felt more like herself.
The Barbarian Queen's soul fragment, watching from the statue, smiled.
'Go forth, my heir,' it whispered, already beginning to fade now that its purpose was complete. 'Experience everything this world has to offer. Let no pain go unwelcome. Let no pleasure be denied.'
'Be the monster they fear. Continue the legend they seemed to have forgotten. And most importantly…'
'Be free.'
With that, the fragment dissolved into nothingness. The first barbarian queen, Vorka—The Lawless, finally fulfilled her long wish of having a suitable successor.
Now, Ma Li stood alone in the inheritance chamber. Her body, which was 5 feet and 7 inches tall, now stood at a staggering 6 feet and 9 inches. Her muscles were dense yet lean; she could no longer hide the cute-looking abs on her stomach.
Her lips curved into a smile that would have terrified anyone who saw it.
"Time to have some fun," she said, her voice deeper now, carrying a rawness that hadn't been there before.
Picking up the rags and her storage ring, Ma Li took out a new dress, but it no longer fit her. So she tore it up and made a crop version that she could wear freely. Finally dressed, she walked toward the exit of the inheritance cave; her footsteps left slight impressions in the stone floor.
Three years of trials. Three years of pain.
'Everything was worth it!' Ma Li emerged from the temple and stepped into the sunlight, spreading her arms wide as if waiting for a grand welcome. 'Now, let's shake the world a little.'
While she was immersed in her delusions, Ma Li heard the sound of metal clinking and froze. She slowly looked down to see a whole crowd of barbarians looking at her with a mixture of weird emotions.
There was doubt, wariness, and most of all, shame, shock, and aversion.
'Eh.' Seeing so many weapons pointed at her, Ma Li slowly lowered her hands in embarrassment. She did not realize that she was not alone and made a fool of herself.
'Are they here to capture me? They are looking at me like I defiled their thoughts or something. Are they angry that a human took the inheritance of the barbarian queen?'
Several thoughts flashed in her mind, but one thing Ma Li realized was that she had to say something.
"Um—" She opened her mouth to speak, but the oldest barbarian leader interrupted her first.
"All Barbarians!" His shout was so loud and authoritative that it shook the forest.
Ma Li did not know what the barbarian was about to do and tensed. His shout made all of her previous grand thoughts vanish. Now she could only wait and see how things turn out for her.