Chapter 23: Almost losing control for the second time.
After the lesson was over, Adam didn't immediately look for the little devil and monitor its movements. He still focused on cultivating his soul power to reach level 20.
For whatever reason, he was still a six-year-old child, and there wasn't much he could do. Unless the little devil became too excessive and risked exposing its Beyonder characteristics, Adam would leave it alone for now.
The only good thing is that after joining the pagoda spirit, all of Adam's living expenses were covered by the pagoda spirit. So, he didn't have to worry about running out of money for food or paying for electricity and water in this house.
Uncle Xu Lie would occasionally come to check on Adam, but after seeing that Adam was fine, he would be relieved and leave some fruit for Adam.
That's quite nice. All the fruit he gave him could be used for sacrifices. He placed all the fruit on the altar, lit three candles, and began performing the ritual for this month.
"The silver dragon king, another consciousness.
A great being born from the schemes of others.
A mistake that should never have been born."
"The future silver dragon princess, Na'er, please accept my sacrifice to you… Please accept the offerings of your followers."
Adam opened his eyes and saw that the fruits on the altar had disappeared. The sacrifice he had made was successful, and the transcendent characteristic in his body continued to be digested.
A feeling of spirituality continued to soar as the things in his body continued to be digested. Some knowledge became clearer, and various new insights began to emerge.
Adam was stunned as various visions appeared before his eyes. A piece of knowledge about some entities, knowledge that a mortal could not receive.
"Sacrifice, a hanged man, a sinner, the material needed to perform a ritual. To gain a blessing of flesh, to gain a blessing of the shadows…"
"Three men hung upside down, three men sacrificed, three sinners' blood on the ground, three blessings on your body. Corruption, madness, insanity…"
"The Hanged Man… Blessing of the flesh… Blessing of the shadows…"
Adam continued to mutter those words nonstop. His body shook violently, and his eyes oozed blood mixed with black.
Shadow writhed at his side, the flesh inside his body moving like thousands of insects writhing endlessly.
A hand reached into the air and tried to rip out the eyeball from his head, but was immediately stopped. Brown tree roots held Adam's hand with all their strength.
The Elder Tree Soul tried to communicate with its partner, but to no avail, no response was received.
Adam continued to stare blankly at the sky, muttering strange words in a language he couldn't understand.
"Sacrifice, a hanged man, a sinner, the material needed to perform a ritual. To gain a blessing of flesh, to gain a blessing of shadow…"
"Three men hung upside down, three men sacrificed, three sinners' blood on the ground, three blessings on your body. Corruption, madness, insanity…"
"The Hanged Man… Blessing of the flesh… Blessing of the shadows…"
The Elder tree didn't understand the meaning of its partner's language, but it still understood Adam from their spiritual connection.
Seeing no other solution, the Elder tree simply wrapped itself around Adam's body and lifted him up like a man hanging upside down. His neck was tightly bound, and his arms were spread out like a reverse cross.
The Elder tree knew nothing and simply followed Adam's thoughts through their spiritual connection.
Adam hung suspended for more than a full night, until his lifeless blue eyes slowly regained their brightness. Sweat dripped from his forehead and fell to the floor.
The slightly dazzling morning sunlight felt like a cleansing agent, soothing the various curses in his head.
"Ugh… What's happening? Why is everything upside down?"
Adam frowned and tried to massage his head, but his hands wouldn't budge.
A seemingly strong root restrained his movements, leaving his body suspended upside down in the air, feeling incredibly stiff.
"Oh, it's you, thanks. But could you please let me down? I'm really uncomfortable in this situation."
The elder tree nodded its branches and lowered Adam. His body soon became ethereal and returned to Adam's mind island.
"Ugh… This fucking lunatic pathway…" Adam lay on the floor, massaging his aching head.
His knowledge of mysticism really made his head ache. It's like a nail being hammered in so hard that it's embedded deeply in his skull.
Something impossible to forget.
"Just after the second sacrifice ritual, I already had this reaction. As the potions of the Secret Suppliant continue to digest, I have to endure this unpleasant feeling again."
Adam tried to stand, but his arms were so weak, he collapsed to the floor. His hands felt like jelly, and his back felt so stiff.
Hanging upside down for a whole night, only a lunatic could truly survive that long.
Beyond that, what I received wasn't a bad thing. It was a ritual to obtain a blessing. A ritual that drew on the concept of offerings to gain power from the mid-sequence of the Hanged Man pathway.
Of course, that power wasn't permanent. Furthermore, this sacrifice ritual had truly serious side effects.
One must understand the sin that one has committed and bear the consequences of the sinner. By then, one will understand the weight of the sin that everyone carries.
The bearer of this sacrifice ritual is oneself, if you desire the true effect of this ability. But the consequences will be disastrous. One can lose control the moment they cannot bear the weight of the sin of those sacrificed.
If there is even a single rejection of the sinner, the blessing in your body will go berserk and cause you to give birth to a fetus inside your belly. In short, you will become pregnant, even if you are a man.
"Honestly, these things aren't that bad. There's no need to make myself the recipient of the blessing; just use some item to create a beyonder item, and the side effects shouldn't be that severe."
"But the effect of the power I receive will be greatly reduced by more than 50%. Furthermore, there will be side effects for those who use the item."
It's kinda like a beyonder item made from beyonder characteristics. But the power is more limited, and the side effects can be more dangerous. But it still has some power from a higher order.
As evil as this practice sounds, this is the nature of The Hanged Man Pathway. The pathway that symbolizes degeneration, sin-bearing, and sacrifice.
Adam took out the dagger from his bracelet and looked at it in his hand. If he wanted to gain more power, then this ritual would provide even more power to him.
Adam gritted his teeth, but soon he laughed hollowly. "Do I have any other choice? Haha, I was planning to experiment with other humans to see if the potions system really works. If this system works, they will become monsters because of the unstable beyonder characteristic and loss of control. If not, that's still an inhuman experiment. Why should I hesitate about this?"
"What a hypocrite." Adam was truly disgusted with himself, who might have been influenced by the beyonder characteristic within his body.
He, an office worker in his past life, someone who had never even killed a person and always obeyed the rules, was now slowly disappearing.
"I already let someone die right in front of me when I encountered the little demon, and there's no point in me hesitating now."
A small sacrifice isn't a big deal. There's no room for fear now.
"One year, if possible, I must reach and enter the realm of a great soul master in one year. With another expansion of my second spirit soul, I should be able to survive the madness before being promoted to Sequence 8."
With my spiritual power continuing to grow as I cultivate, coupled with the soul ring that increases the speed of spiritual power development, I can restrain myself from losing control.
This time, Adam didn't transform into an abomination of writhing flesh like the last time he awakened his martial spirit.
This at least proves that spiritual power can allow him to withstand the state of losing control.