Chapter 7: Historical Relic, Purified Altar's Maw
Jiang Yan was speaking the absolute truth.
In the basement, he had used the Dark God Embryo to nurture the flesh and blood of the first Wild Boar Cavalry he had slain, but this time, no living creature was born.
Instead, it was a skill.
[Skill-type Offspring — Vajravārāhī Tummo Seal (Beginner Level 90%): Vajravārāhī, also known as Dorje Phagmo, is a great achiever in Buddhism, wielding supreme power. Her form is like that of sixteen beautiful maidens, with one face, two arms, and two heads, radiating red light across all directions and three times, subduing demonic enemies, attaining the deathless Rainbow Body and the fruit of deathlessness.
Believers must worship day and night and supplement with Vajravārāhī Tummo secret medicine, constantly scorching with flames to practice Tummo. By consuming their own vitality, they condense golden light and enhance their defense.
When Vajravārāhī Tummo Cavalry are slain, there is a chance to extract their Historical Skill or the corresponding secret medicine formula.
History Walkers who acquire it do not need to worship Vajravārāhī, but must configure the secret medicine and retrain.
The deeper one's understanding of Buddhism, the stronger the power, but it also increases the chance of being watched by Vajravārāhī, triggering unknown mutations.
When turned into Offspring, the skill itself can perform the ritual worship of Vajravārāhī without needing additional secret medicine, and it inherits full proficiency. Absorbing enough similar Offspring can rapidly enhance proficiency.
Reaching Grandmaster and Transcendent Saint levels will trigger special effects.]
[Proficiency Levels: Beginner, Proficient, Mastery, Perfection, Grandmaster, Transcendent Saint]
[Evaluation: Flickering Lamp, Illuminating Vajra.]
A defensive skill!
It was precisely because of this skill that Jiang Yan dared to confront these Wild Boars—no, Vajravārāhī Tummo Cavalry—head-on.
After withstanding a heavy strike, the Vajravārāhī Seal became weakened. Though it lacked full intelligence, it transmitted emotions of joy and devotion.
Protecting the master was their mission!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
“Damn it, I’m not willing to accept this—ahhh!”
With the protection of the Vajravārāhī Seal, they could not kill Jiang Yan, the “Fangshi.” Coupled with the blood threads sweeping out from the coffin, the remaining three Vajravārāhī Cavalry quickly lost their will to fight and were killed one by one, dying with bitter regret.
“Great Coffin Grandpa’s master, your wisdom transcends death!”
Blood threads spread around the coffin and sprouted limbs like stick figures, toddling over with flattering gestures, shattering the once mysterious and terrifying image.
“……”
Jiang Yan’s mouth twitched slightly.
Since its birth, this guy had not only called itself Coffin Grandpa but also crafted a whole string of cunning schemes without Jiang Yan needing to plan in detail.
Sinister and sly, yet so shameless…
Who had it learned that from?
Certainly not from him!
Jiang Yan ridiculed inwardly, then turned to the many corpses before him, tossing one Vajravārāhī Cavalry corpse to the Spirit of the Burial Coffin, which responded with enthusiastic cheers.
Coffin Grandpa cheerfully stuffed the cavalry corpse into the coffin, refining Tummo Oil, preparing to oil its entire body.
A good coffin needed to be well-maintained!
For the Mother Goddess—oh no, for the Master—as its offspring, it had to be dutiful and filial.
“Master, I’ll definitely maintain myself well, so you can lie in comfort in the future!”
“Scram!”
“Got it!”
Jiang Yan reached out his hand toward the remaining eight cavalry corpses.
Streams of dark energy spread out, devouring them and converting them into nourishment for the Dark God Embryo.
Boom!
The dark world rooted itself in the sea of chaos, decomposing the corpses into fundamental spiritual factors, bearing fruit along the branches that emitted a faint white glow.
Among them, seven were beginner-level Vajravārāhī Tummo Seal skills, each with about 90% proficiency.
Jiang Yan directly fused them.
With the first fusion, the Vajravārāhī Seal’s progress bar rose to 99%, just one step away from reaching the Proficient level.
However, fusing the second one resulted in no change.
Jiang Yan wasn’t disappointed and continued the fusion process until he reached the fifth fusion, whereupon the text before his eyes gradually blurred, then transformed into the Proficient level of mastery.
After fusing seven skills of the same type, the Vajravārāhī Seal advanced to Proficient level (20%).
Buzz!
At that moment, a vast amount of knowledge surged into Jiang Yan’s mind, and he comprehended more ways to use the Vajravārāhī Seal, increasing his hand seal speed by a third, allowing him to execute seals with a mere thought.
As for its defensive power, it increased by about half.
In actual combat, this would significantly enhance his overall strength.
Had they possessed Proficient-level skills, Jiang Yan would have undoubtedly died.
Originally weakened from sacrificing flesh and blood, his body now surged with vitality, and a touch of color returned to his face.
If this were a game world, a “+1 Constitution” icon would likely appear above his head.
For ordinary History Walkers, or even worshippers of Vajravārāhī, it would take years of arduous cultivation, but for Jiang Yan, he only needed to feed it enough materials to improve easily.
This was the terrifying power of the Dark God Embryo!
Buzz!
The spiritual energy of the Vajravārāhī Seal Offspring grew denser and even began to operate on its own, albeit inefficiently.
Jiang Yan was a little surprised—wasn’t this just the auto-grind feature seen in certain browser games?
It was known that the higher the proficiency, the greater the intelligence of skill-type Offspring, which increased efficiency in a positive feedback loop.
One man’s energy was limited, but his Offspring were limitless!
The last corpse gave rise to a new item-type Offspring.
It resembled a small black fuzzy ball, with no eyes, appearing somewhat cute, but it bore a mouth full of sharp teeth. Even when not eating, it constantly chewed, emitting a hair-raising sound.
[Historical Relic — Mouth of the Purified Altar]
[Source — Official History (Turbid Stream Grade A)]
[Rank: Extraordinary (Lower Tier)]
[Quality: Ordinary]
[Description: Born from the “Purified Altar Method — Fragment of Endless Hunger,” through a special ritual, the Vajravārāhī Cavalry grew gaping mouths of insatiable hunger, meant to suppress the speed of their own mutations.
By devouring large quantities of flesh, it grants powerful regeneration, capable of healing all injuries except for severed limbs and near-fatal wounds.
Has an extremely low probability of being extracted from Vajravārāhī-related or gluttony-related swine-type mutated creatures.
Consumes spiritual energy and must be fed flesh to use. Long-term use results in wild boar-like mutations and loss of reason.
After conversion into a Dark God Embryo Offspring, this side effect is nullified.]
“This is a rare healing item!”
Jiang Yan's expression lit up with joy. Though costly to use, it could reverse the tide of battle if used well.
“The term ‘Turbid Stream Grade’ keeps appearing. It likely refers to the tier of this disease-ridden borderland. Grades A, B, C, and D are easy enough to understand—it denotes danger levels.
Since there’s a lower-tier Extraordinary grade, there must also be middle-tier and upper-tier levels. This should reflect the item’s quality and rarity.
What I don’t know is… are Extraordinary-grade Historical Relics only dropped with low probability at Turbid Stream-grade Diseased Nodes?”
Jiang Yan pondered. As for the tiers beyond Turbid Stream grade, they remained a complete mystery.
The River of History would not answer his questions, leaving him with no systematic understanding of the entire transcendent mutation system.
“I need to find a way to acquire some basic knowledge.”
As Jiang Yan’s thoughts wandered—especially regarding the Purified Altar Method and human-to-wild-boar mutation—he was reminded of a certain old acquaintance who once commanded a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers in the Milky Way…
“Could it be that he, too, is deep within the River of History?”
Jiang Yan faintly sensed that the source of these mutations hid an enormous secret.
Beside him, Coffin Grandpa, while expertly oiling himself, gazed at the distant battle between Commander Lu and the Large Rat Guard, grinning as he said:
“Master, this is great. Looks like they don’t have time to deal with us.”
Unlike the Vajravārāhī Cavalry, Commander Lu and the Large Rat Guard were just one tier higher, but their power was enough to utterly crush them.
Jiang Yan trying to take them on directly… was nearly impossible!
The best course of action was to wait for the mission to end and return to the real world.
However, gazing into the distance, Jiang Yan murmured:
“Little Coffin, you know, the roles of hunter and prey are not fixed. At a certain moment…”
“They will reverse!”