Chapter 2714: Chapter 2714: Tacit Understanding

Staring at the black area on his back, Zen frowned.

If it was only attached to his back, he would be fine with it.

But that wasn't the case. Judging from the situation, the black area was spreading. Sooner or later, his whole body would be covered. Zen's frown deepened. If his whole body was covered in black, he would look weird and ugly!

Zen gingerly poked the black area. It felt rough and hard to the touch, like stone.

After some thought, he directed his power at the black skin.

The muscles on his back bulged. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to will the Shade Stone out of his body.

However, no matter how hard he tried, each time he opened his eyes to check, the black area hadn't budged at all. It seemed that it had completely integrated into his body, becoming a part of him.

After trying other methods, he threw his hands up in resignation.

“No. 9527, what should I do with it?” Zen asked.

It was completely an accident that the Shade Stone had been sucked into his body.

Now, Zen had no way to take it out.

“I don't know either,” No. 9527 answered disinterestedly. “Generally, the Shade Stone is used to refine weapons, and it could be considered a premium Other Shore Treasure. It's capable of completely merging with an Other Shore Token, but I didn't know it could merge with your body.”

The reason why the Other Shore Treasure was superior to the Profound Blood Treasure was that it had merged with the Other Shore Token.

The more powerful the Other Shore Token was, the better materials it would require to refine weapons.

If a Profound Blood Treasure were to merge with an Other Shore Token, it would collapse during the process. The Profound Blood Treasure itself couldn't merge with the Other Shore Token.

Primary Other Shore Treasures could merge with the Other Shore Tokens of Stages One to Ten, the intermediate Other Shore Treasures could merge with tokens of Stages Eleven to Twenty, and the premium ones merged with tokens of Stages Twenty-one to Thirty.

But No. 9527 and Gant had failed to mention something.

Most of the premium Other Shore Treasures could only merge with the Other Shore Tokens of Stage Thirty at most, which was known as the Blooming Jade Stage.

However, the Shade Stones and some other rare items were totally unrestricted. They could merge with the Other Shore Tokens above Stage Thirty.

“In this case, are you saying my body can be considered an Other Shore Treasure?” Zen asked curiously.

His body was different, after all.

Some ancient gods crossed the Sea of Truth by refining their bodies, but they cultivated a different Truth of Godly Way from Zen.

It was called the Truth of Powerful Holy Body. As the Ancient God Cultivation Method had disappeared, no one had ever cultivated the Truth of Powerful Holy Body since then.

In fact, Zen had forged a new way. He had entered the Sea of Truth by burning his body with fire.

The truth aura emanating from his body had never existed before. Even No. 9527 couldn't tell where it came from, and it was unknown if he could merge with the Other Shore Tokens.

Hearing Zen's question, No. 9527 was stunned. After a while, it said, “Yes. Things are getting interesting!”

Initially, No. 9527 paid no heed to the Shade Stone. But upon this realization, it started to pay close attention to it.

The Other Shore was a complex and mysterious world. There were a large number of Other Shore Tokens that could be fused to enhance the strength of the True Gods. However, some Other Shore Tokens couldn't be fused. ℞АＮ𝖔ꞖĘs

For example, there was a kind of herb called Poison Tenderness in Stage Six, which contained a very fierce poison. No one dared to merge with it. After merging, the poison would destroy the warrior. The Poison Tenderness was very suitable for making Other Shore Treasures; in fact, it was the most important ingredient for many primary Other Shore Treasures.

There were many Other Shore Tokens like the Poison Tenderness. It depended on whether they matched Zen's Truths of Godly Ways.

Hearing No. 9527's words, Zen grew excited. But soon, the rush of excitement left him. He smiled bitterly. “Now, the real problem is how do I deal with this black spot?”

No. 9527 didn't speak for a while as it was deep in thought. “Why don't you try burning it with fire?”

When Zen was burnt by the divine flames of the Sun Crow race, his body somehow managed to absorb the Shade Stone. Now that he couldn't separate from it, maybe he could try completely integrating it into his body.

Zen's eyes flashed. “I'd like to have a try!”

He stretched out his hands, sparking a red flame. The flame spiraled around him to cover him.

Golden vortexes appeared on the surface of his body.

As the golden vortexes whirled violently, the Shade Stone remained unmoved.

“Again!”

Zen performed the Elementary Fire Godly Way again.

Raging flames constantly passed through his body.

After about five minutes, using his spiritual sense, he felt that the black spot finally budged.

“It's working!” Zen cried as he couldn't conceal his joy. He proceeded to continue conducting the spell.

Splash!

The cave of the Sword Tower heated into a bright red thanks to the flames shooting out from Zen's body.

After around eight hours, the black spot had melted slightly, becoming fluid. Zen once again attempted to expel the Shade Stone from his body, to no avail. It seemed the black spot had fully integrated into his body.

With Zen constantly burning, the black spot loosened its grasp gradually, but then something unexpected happened.

The black Shade Stone liquid moved along his back to his neck, legs, chest and other parts. After a short while, he seemed to be covered by charcoal all over his body. Except for the golden vortexes, he was black all over his body, with only his shiny eyes blinking.

“Now I'm in trouble,”

Zen said helplessly.

But since that was the case, he had no choice but to keep burning.

As he was burning, Zen felt a strange sensation. He felt that the Shade Stone was completely integrating with him. It was as though he had an additional layer of skin that he could manipulate. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between him and the black mark.

This sense of tacit understanding was very strange, as though he had grown another arm or a leg, not knowing where it came from. It felt the same as when he had three heads and six arms in the past. Although he was not used to this extra body part, it was there, and he could control it.

'Withdraw!'

Zen ordered silently.

The black thing immediately slipped somewhere deep within his body. His skin was fair again!

No. 9527 was surprised at what it had just witnessed. After a while, it murmured, “It seems that you have a strange ability.”

Zen himself didn't seem surprised at all.

Along his journey, he had absorbed a lot of strange things. The Shade Stone just came by coincidence.

As he shook his body, it instantly emerged again, covering his whole body in blackness.

Then he got up and walked out of the jade cushion.

As though sensing his movement, a long sword that was hovering on the roof of the cave suddenly shot towards him.

However, Zen didn't even flinch. He just stretched out his arms, as though to greet the blade that was flying towards him.