Chapter 71 - The Titan's Expansion Part 2

"Lu Shu, tell me, do you have the power of the Old God: Laozi the Undying?" the Great Ancestor asked.

"I have his Eye of Execution," Shu answered.

"Do you know about the Snow Emperor Pearl?" the Great Ancestor asked.

"I know that it contains the soul of demon nobility, a Demon Emperor rank demon. With it, I can gain the power of a Demon Emperor in the future," Shu answered.

"Yes. You are like my fourteen Spirit Sage descendants. Demons, but capable of cultivating the superior human cultivation as you were born one. Demons are superior than humans and humans over magical beasts. However, the magical beasts cultivate the fastest while humans have the most profound of techniques. You have the demonic red spirit energy and a demon horn. However, you have not demonized yet. Lu Feng is right. It is time to awaken the Snow Emperor Pearl in you," the Great Ancestor said.

"I thought I couldn't change?' Shu asked, startled.

"Hmph. Do you think me to be weaker than the First Tiger, a Spirit Overlord between Realms? The Snow Emperor Pearl is one from the echelons of the Immortal Realms. There is no comparison," the Great Ancestor said as he held his hand out to Shu. Shu cried out in pain as the Snow Emperor Pearl returned into his hand. The Great Ancestor began to chant, Shu immobilizing as he became a statue of red diamonds. Wraith left his shadow, staring at its master in wonder.

"Stay calm. This is part of the process," Lu Feng assured as he placed a palm on Lu Yi's shoulder, Lu Yi trembling as he stared at his son. Lu Yi watched, pure terror on his face, as a Mystic Crystal emerged, fusing into the Snow Emperor Pearl as the statue shattered, leaving behind Shu's black armor, the white silver headband, the gourd of lion wine, his storage bag, and Spook.

"What is this?" Lu Yi asked, trembling as he fell to the ground while demonic red spirit energy radiated from the Snow Emperor Pearl, creating a new body in the process. Lu Shu looked exactly as before: hiar as black as space, orange eyes of Laozi the Undying, the tribal scorpion tattoo on the back, emerald tiger stripes under his eyes, and the white dragon scales on his neck. Before the skin and muscle formed, Lu Yi saw the cerulean crystal skeleton, a result of the living water spirit technique, a demon horn sprouting from the skull but as white as a human bone, and an oval demonic stone in the center of his skull. As Shu's body formed, the guardian lion had appeared and was whimpering as it saw its master.

"Black blood?" Lu Yi frowned.

"The blood of a Golden Earth Fiend, but his hair did not turn back to a gold color. Ah, the mark of the Snow Emperor Peal appeared," Lu Feng smiled as a skeleton of a serpentine-bodied dragon appeared in the center of Shu's chest, as if spiraling deeper. The Snow Emperor Pearl shattered as its power went into the Mystic Crystal.

"It is finished. The power lies within him now and he no longer has a human body," the great Ancestor said. "It will take time for it to manifest. Goodbye Lu Yi. There is no more reason to come here again. I will return Lu Shu to you in time for the feast among those human nobles and delegates."

"Thank you, Great Ancestor, for watching over the Lu Clan," Lu Yi said, bowing and knocking his head on the ground nine times as Shu dressed himself and let Wraith hide in his shadow as the guardian lion disappeared.

"How is the demon body, Lu Shu?" Lu Feng grinned.

"I feel, strangely good. It's as if this was the body I should have had. It feels too natural," Shu answered as he dressed himself, replacing the white silver Monkey King headband and the black leather armor.

"It finally happened," Spook laughed. "Good. Now my master is a true Golden Earth Fiend demon. No more of those useless human genes. Don't worry, with me, your spirit energy will still look like human gold spirit energy to anyone below the Demon Emperor immortal rank unless you say otherwise."

"You are a Sword Immortal cultivator and a demon. Now...blast. That wife of mine is too excited. Calm her down and make her sleep," the Great Ancestor asked as the five Spirit Sages in his cultivation pyramid array left to attend the giggling woman above. "Where was I? Ah, yes. I was about to talk about the Sundering Thorn Scripture. It is a Sword Immortal cultivation technique as well as a martial art. This is the main sword spirit technique you will spend your entire lifetime mastering, perfecting, evolving, and improving."

"One of my four planets, one of the two with my demonic red spirit energy, is the color of emerald. Sword spirit energy?" Shu frowned. "The other three planets are one of the three other energies I have."

"Indeed. Those two other types of energies will only have a single planet until you reach the tenth level of soul condensation. At the eighth level, you develop a small sun and finish making a small galaxy. By the ninth stage, you have a full-sized sun and fifteen planets. Only immortals can reach the tenth level of soul condensation, when the body creates two galaxies and begins the start of creating a universe. One galaxy will contain all your sword spirit energy. It won't be a demonic red but a demonic emerald as your demonic red spirit energy will have finished converting into emerald sword spirit energy. The other energies will share half of that galaxy. At the eleventh level is when those two energies will stop expanding their influence as they will each have their own galaxy while your emerald sword spirit energy take up the ones that appear," the Great Ancestor explained. "Other immortal paths, like those of the Devil and Celestial Immortal paths, don't need to condense their souls as their spirit energy is not a weapon in itself. As you already condensed your soul to the highest level for Spirit Shamans, I am well pleased."

"So important?" Shu cried, realization dawning on his face.

"Now, one of the four powers of the Tiger should have appeared," the Great Ancestor said, pointing at Shu's face. "I know those marks and the powers they possess. The first power is always the same: healing. Using that power, you can heal virtually any wound or that of others. To humans, those who can heal virtually any wound for others are akin to nobles or gods."

"It is true. Humans do call an adventurer who enters a town, saves it, and heals its people: hero or noble," Lu Feng nodded as the Tiger's Shield Bracelet appeared on Shu's left wrist.

"Wraith, you better hide in the guardian lion's shadow. It does not seem to like my Soul Realm and is at my cultivation. However it is still young," Shu said, Wraith transferring to the Holy Spirit Beast's shadow.

"You have gotten all you were meant to, the same as Lu Feng and all my descendants with high demon purity levels. I also have a task for you. I sense one of the three living spirit techniques in the palace grounds. I suspect a descendant of the thief appeared as one of the delegates. What nerve. Punish him. You already have your innate demonic ability. Even if you can't kill him, drain his spirit energy dry. Although you can't take the living spirit energy, you can still drain some of its power into your own," the Great Ancestor ordered. "Farewell, Lu Shu. You are the last demonic descendant I will see in this realm. Come find me in the Immortal Realm. Which one, the Keeper of the Immortal Gateway will tell you."

"Thank you, Great Ancestor," Shu said, bowing his head as he knelt on both knees.

"He's a good seed. See that he sprouts. He will need it. He obviously does not know the importance of the bead on his silver necklace," the Great Ancestor said.

"Yes, Great Ancestor," Lu Feng said as they watched Lu Shu leave with his magical beasts, the guardian lion in his hands as it seemed to have shrunk to the size of a kitten.

"I don't even know what to say anymore," Shu muttered. "Is it because I got stronger that it reverted back?"

"I will be protecting the pagoda. Congratulations, master," Bahamut said as it flew off.

Shu wore a gold cloak over his armor as Supaiku asked, "What will you call that Holy Spirit Beast, master?"

"I was thinking Hao. It's a good name and similar to my fake identity of Yao in that illusionary array," Shu said as he rode Supaiku toward the plaza where the feast would be held.

"And what of the thief with the living spirit technique?" Wraith asked as Shu felt his skeleton tremble and knew his Great Ancestor was right, as if his Radiant Howl water spirit technique resonated with something.

"We will see. If I don't like him, I'll try to kill him and make it look like an accident while challenging him to a duel," Shu grinned malevolently.