Chapter 5: The Arm of the Ghost King, the Shadow Seal, and the Bearer of Fate (Seventh Update)

With Zhou Yan's reminder, Long snapped to attention.

"Right, I almost forgot!" She leapt up, hurriedly rummaging for the leather pouch, then remembered it contained a vial of Taba's demon blood, making her reluctant to pour it out.

So she looked directly at Zhou Yan. "Lord Yan, why don't we just draw the Long Mark for you here, using fresh blood?"

Zhou Yan laughed. "As long as you're fine, I have no objections."

Long nodded vigorously. "Lord Yan, I will be careful and won't make any mistakes!"

She glanced around at the surroundings—shadows of trees flickered, and who knew what monsters or beasts hid among them. If anything disturbed her during the process, it would be troublesome.

"Lord Yan, let's go inside the cave. It's too complicated out here."

She took the initiative to drag the corpse of Ibaraki Doji toward the cave, then suddenly remembered something and pointed to the severed head, which Zhou Yan had kicked far away and smashed. "Lord Yan, could you please cut off those horns on Ibaraki Doji's head and take them with you? There's a legend that powerful demon kings like him can never truly be killed. Their souls reside in their horns; even if their bodies are destroyed, the horns can't be destroyed, and when the opportunity arises, they can regenerate their bodies and return to life."

She looked embarrassed. "I don't know if the legend is true, but just to be safe, so he can't harm the people again, it's best to take precautions."

"Alright." Zhou Yan smiled faintly and walked over, summoning the Karma Lotus Sword to easily remove both horns from the now-unrecognizable head.

Unexpectedly, another information prompt appeared.

[Ibaraki Doji's Demon King Horns]

[Type: Demon King True Form]

[Description: The true body of a highborn demon, spontaneously born in the world through the infection of calamity. Even if the physical form is destroyed, the horns remain intact, housing the true spirit of the demon. When conditions are right, or through special rituals of their kin, a new body can be regenerated.]

[Rating: 0-Star, Tier 4]

[Detected a suitable chaotic object. Would you like to add it as a material for the talent "Super Fusion"?]

Wait!

Zhou Yan suddenly realized—when he touched Ibaraki Doji's corpse earlier, there had been no prompt to add it as a Super Fusion material.

The reason was that the true body of the demon king lay in those horns.

That was just as well; carrying them was much more convenient.

Zhou Yan stored the horns, quickly followed Long into the cave, and returned to the stone altar where the shrine to Demon Slayer was set up.

"Please sit here and give me your hand, Lord," Long said, arranging Ibaraki Doji's corpse and kneeling obediently beside it, taking out the prepared tools and instructing Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan sat cross-legged, straightforwardly offering his hand, which the girl gently took and placed upon her smooth, white thigh.

Excellent, Long. If you're going to do it this way, I can only say I'm very satisfied.

Seeing her cheeks flush, Zhou Yan chuckled.

Long blushed even deeper but only softly reminded him, "Lord Yan, I don't know how I know these things, but when drawing the Long Mark with demon blood, you'll feel a burning pain. Especially with blood from a demon king like Ibaraki Doji, the pain is even more intense. Would you like to bite down on a cloth or something?"

"Mmm," Zhou Yan nodded, and watched as the girl shyly took a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to him.

Well then, Zhou Yan had originally planned to tear a strip from his pant leg, but with a beautiful girl's scented handkerchief, who would bite that?

He solemnly bit down on Long's handkerchief, and saw that the blushing girl was flustered, bowing her head and steadying herself before beginning.

She opened the chest, extracted the heart, and used the blood as ink.

Long took out a brush, dipped it in blood, and looked at Zhou Yan. "Lord Yan, please bear with it."

Zhou Yan nodded, and decided to open his status panel, planning to distract himself by reviewing his spoils.

The next moment, he felt a searing pain on the back of his right hand, as if burned by fire.

Zhou Yan clenched his teeth slightly and looked at his inventory.

Killing Ibaraki Doji had yielded seven spoils, the most he'd ever gained during his journeys through the Calamity Realm.

The runes needed no explanation; including four runes and one circuit core dropped by Taba.

Now, besides the seven runes equipped, his inventory contained nine rune factors and three circuit cores.

That was enough to upgrade his Life Gear to Tier 4, and then fill all seven rune slots, bringing him close to the fifth tier.

Besides runes, there were items.

This time, Zhou Yan finally obtained a new item.

[Demon King Arm · Modified]

[Type: Equipment (Spirit Limb)]

[Description: After Ibaraki Doji's arm was severed by Watanabe no Tsuna with Demon Slayer, he disguised himself as Tsuna's foster mother to reclaim his arm. Unable to reattach the arm after it was severed by the sacred blade, he used demonic power to refine it into a semi-spirit form, allowing him to summon a spirit arm at will with mysterious abilities. After purification and modification, it has become a special spirit limb usable by Calamity Realm wanderers.]

[Effect: Equipping on the hand turns the forearm to palm into a semi-spirit form, allowing the user to switch between "spirit" and "physical" states at will. "Spirit" form allows passage through objects and is an excellent energy conductor; "physical" form appears as a normal arm, with strength matching "Standard 0-Star, Tier 4" physique. (Consumes Life Gear durability at 10/sec while equipped.)]

[Rating: 0-Star, Tier 4]

[Note: Though the right arm was severed, equipping on the left will self-adjust!]

Spirit limb?

Zhou Yan's eyes lit up, so much so that he barely noticed the pain as the Long Mark was drawn on his right hand.

He glanced at Long, absorbed in her work, thought for a moment, and resisted the urge to immediately equip the Demon King Arm.

If he startled her and ruined the Long Mark, it would be troublesome.

So he waited patiently for more than ten minutes.

The girl finally finished her drawing. On the back of Zhou Yan's right hand, a mysterious spell symbol, drawn with Ibaraki Doji's demon blood, glowed.

Around the main symbol, smaller runes encircled it.

At last, Long put down the blood-stained brush, then raised her right hand, the Long Mark on her own hand shining with dazzling demonic power.

"Lord Yan, this is the final step. I will use my Long Mark and demonic power to activate yours," she said earnestly.

Zhou Yan nodded lightly. "I'll leave it to you."

Without hesitation, Long pressed the back of her hand against Zhou Yan's.

The next instant, intense blue light flared, illuminating the entire stone chamber as if it were daylight.

In the blinding light, Zhou Yan felt his right hand alternately burned by fire and frozen by ice, the pain so intense he nearly groaned aloud.

He didn't know how long it lasted—perhaps only seconds.

Suddenly, the chamber's light vanished, and Zhou Yan's mind cleared.

He immediately looked at his hand; the spell drawn in demon blood was gone.

Yet he sensed—some mysterious connection had formed between himself and the mark on his right hand.

He willed it, and the next moment, a faint blue glow appeared on his hand, forming the same spell as Long's.

Then, from Ibaraki Doji's corpse beside him, a surge of blue demonic power flowed into Zhou Yan's hand, feeding the spell for nearly three seconds before stopping.

All of Ibaraki Doji's remaining power was drained.

Zhou Yan looked at the rune on his hand, flickering at his command, pondering how to test its power.

"It seems we've succeeded," came Long's joyful yet weak voice.

Hearing the change, Zhou Yan looked up to see the girl pale and drenched in sweat, collapsing helplessly.

"Long!" Zhou Yan reacted swiftly, catching her in his arms, and a red glow appeared in his palm, which he immediately fed into her mouth.

The micro life essence worked quickly, restoring color to Long's cheeks, but her condition did not improve.

"Lord Yan, there's no need to waste... divine medicine. I'm just a bit exhausted. I'll be fine after a nap—" Her words unfinished, she leaned in his arms and fell asleep.

Zhou Yan looked down at her tightly furrowed brows, her sleep troubled even in unconsciousness, then at his own Long Mark.

He sat silent for a while and sighed.

Unable to resist, he asked his golden finger: 'I know you probably won't answer, but after this journey, will I be able to see this child again?'

After two seconds, there was no response from the golden finger, but Zhou Yan showed no disappointment.

He was used to it.

Suddenly, a line of text flashed before his eyes.

[Upgrade from "0-Star, Tier 5" to "1-Star" to unlock the "Life Gear User" function.]

Life Gear User!?

Zhou Yan's spirits soared, and he hurriedly asked, 'What is Life Gear User? What does it do?'

This time, the panel gave no answer.

And no matter what he asked next, the panel remained silent.

With the panel unresponsive, Zhou Yan could only give up.

Still, he remembered that rare hint.

"Life Gear User," he murmured, eyes shining with resolve.

He vowed to reach "Tier 5" in this journey, then find a way to advance again and achieve that so-called "1-Star"!

With determination, Zhou Yan gently laid Long on the platform beside him.

He immediately began to review his rune circuits, preparing to select the optimal path from the four available circuits and advance right away.

***