The Rule-Breaker of the Doomsday Game

"Blood Heart Worms, I know a thing or two about them."

"Among the Twelve Venerables of the Ancestral Court, there’s the Celestial Traveler Venerable, who achieved enlightenment as a Blood Heart Worm. It’s said he was the first Blood Heart Worm in the world, and all other Blood Heart Worms are his descendants."

"He has several thousand direct descendants. Among them, nearly a thousand have undergone metamorphosis, and hundreds are Innate Beast Kings..."

King Zhen Ao, who had been dragged back to the safe house by Qi Suian, naturally told him everything he knew upon hearing the question.

Qi Suian listened and thought, ’Looks like I picked the right beast. If I had to search blindly on my own, it would’ve been a real pain.’

It just went to show that King Zhen Ao was worthy of being the son of the Ancestral Court’s Celestial Dragon Venerable, even if its rank was a bit low.

The so-called "metamorphosis" meant undergoing a mutation, while Innate Beast Kings were born with immense power from the start.

As for the rest, they were just ordinary individuals.

"But if you’re asking where to find a Blood Heart Worm King, I’m not sure. I’m not familiar with them, not to mention you’re probably looking for a pure-blooded one."

"That will be very hard to find," King Zhen Ao continued.

After a Beast King-level Cold Energy Monster evolves into a Venerable, the reproductive barrier is broken, so mixed-blood descendants can appear.

Of course, being mixed-blood didn’t mean they were weak.

King Zhen Ao itself was a mixed-blood, yet it was still able to become a Beast King.

"It’s fine. I don’t care if it’s pure-blooded or not. I just want to ask, do you know where the Celestial Traveler Venerable is?" Qi Suian asked.

’Since there’s a better option, I’m not going to settle for one of his worm descendants. Might as well go straight for the ancestor.’

King Zhen Ao froze when it heard this.

It truly hadn’t expected Qi Suian to ask such a question.

He had clearly switched his original target to the Celestial Traveler Venerable, one of the Twelve Venerables.

"I do." After a moment of silence, King Zhen Ao finally uttered the words.

It actually did know the location of the Celestial Traveler Venerable’s slumbering grounds.

It was a coincidence from years ago; one could only say that Qi Suian had truly asked the right beast.

If he had asked any other beast, they would have never known such a secret.

As for how it knew, that was a rather convoluted story, so we won’t get into it for now.

"Good. You lead the way. After this is over, I’ll let you go," Qi Suian said, lying through his teeth.

"A Venerable’s power is far beyond what you can imagine," King Zhen Ao said. "That strange weapon of yours does give me pause, but you don’t stand a chance against a Venerable."

"If I tell you and get implicated afterward, I’ll be dead for sure."

After weighing the pros and cons between Qi Suian and the Celestial Traveler Venerable, King Zhen Ao chose the latter.

After all, Qi Suian had to resort to a mutually destructive method just to fight it. If it weren’t for the Floating Cannons, the winner would have been uncertain.

The gap between it and one of the Twelve Venerables, on the other hand, was vaster than the sky and deeper than the sea.

If Qi Suian’s mission failed, it would definitely be found out.

It was true that it was a child of the Celestial Dragon Venerable, but there was no way its good-for-nothing father would fight the Celestial Traveler Venerable to the death for its sake.

He would just ignore the whole affair.

"Fine," Qi Suian nodded. "Then you have no more value. You can die now."

As he spoke, the Floating Cannons began to charge up again.

Seeing this, King Zhen Ao immediately changed its tune without hesitation. "At most, I’ll give you the location. I won’t lead you there."

Betraying the Celestial Traveler Venerable meant dying later, but not betraying him meant dying now.

So, between dying later and dying sooner, it chose the former.

Besides, betraying the Celestial Traveler Venerable wasn’t a guaranteed death sentence. For one, if by some chance Qi Suian actually managed to kill the Celestial Traveler Venerable, wouldn’t that solve everything for good?

Of course, in its view, that possibility was slim.

Secondly, as long as it hid well or Qi Suian died quickly, the Celestial Traveler Venerable might not find it, or might not even know who betrayed him.

Finally, there was an even simpler method: it could just give Qi Suian a fake location.

Once Qi Suian left, it could just escape.

"That’s an option, but what if you give me the wrong location?" Qi Suian retorted.

King Zhen Ao’s status was that of a test subject and an enemy. It might not have lied about other things, but this time, it was clearly showing extreme reluctance.

The chance of it telling the truth was slim. Even a single lie mixed with nine truths could be misleading.

"Well..." Faced with Qi Suian’s question, King Zhen Ao couldn’t make any guarantees.

Because Qi Suian was right. Even if it told the truth, he wouldn’t believe it until he found the Celestial Traveler Venerable.

The best way was to bring it along and only let it go after confirming the location.

But by that point, it would definitely be too late.

Once the Celestial Traveler Venerable was awakened, a target as large and conspicuous as itself would have no chance of escape.

"I can stake my father’s reputation as a guarantee. I’ll give you..." King Zhen Ao brought up its Venerable father.

But it didn’t even get to finish its sentence before Qi Suian cut it off.

"What the hell is your dad’s reputation good for? Using your life as a guarantee is more like it," Qi Suian said bluntly.

In the last Cold Energy era, the Celestial Dragon Venerable’s reputation might have been useful, but this wasn’t the last era.

Putting King Zhen Ao’s life on the line, however, would make it behave.

The meaning was clear: it had to lead the way. There was no other choice.

"If I lead the way, I’ll just be living for a day or two longer at most. Just kill me," King Zhen Ao said, its tone hardening.

It was true its good-for-nothing father didn’t dote on it, but his reputation was renowned back in the day. If even that wasn’t enough for a guarantee, then there was nothing more it could do.

"You just had to do this the hard way," Qi Suian said coldly. "You know I’m looking for the Celestial Traveler Venerable, yet you still protect him."

"I suppose you think life has been too easy for you."

"From now on, I guarantee you won’t even be able to die if you want to."

As he spoke, Qi Suian grabbed all of its claws and, with a CRACK, snapped every single one of them.

He then took out a tool and sawed off King Zhen Ao’s mandibles on the spot.

Before King Zhen Ao could even react, its dorsal vein—its intestine—was pulled out completely.

This series of actions left King Zhen Ao writhing on the ground, wailing in agony.

Theoretically, as a crayfish, King Zhen Ao shouldn’t have pain receptors. But it wasn’t a normal crayfish; it was an evolved one.

Therefore, it possessed a sense of pain.

Qi Suian was very satisfied with this. If it truly couldn’t feel pain, that would have been a huge problem for him.

"You can feel pain. That makes things much easier for us."

"I will make you regret not accepting my offer." Qi Suian wasn’t a good person, and King Zhen Ao wasn’t human, so he acted without a shred of hesitation.

He then dragged King Zhen Ao, tied it to a surgical table, and injected it with drugs meant to weaken it and amplify its pain.

And then, he immediately began a vivisection.

It had to be said, as expected of a Beast King—and a direct descendant of a top-tier Beast King at that—the gains for Qi Suian were immense.

"Wait, I’ll take you! I’ll take you!!!"

King Zhen Ao screamed, begging for mercy. The unbearable pain made it submit completely.

It seemed it had guessed wrong. Refusing Qi Suian didn’t mean a swift death; it meant a fate worse than death.

"Too late. You’ll just have to bear with this for a little while," Qi Suian said coldly.

If it had agreed from the start, Qi Suian could have at least arranged a painless death for it.

But now? What experiment stops just because the test subject says so?

"No, it’s not too late! I can also tell you the Celestial Traveler Venerable’s weakness!"

"If you miss this, you’ll definitely regret it!" King Zhen Ao felt the pain not only fail to subside but actually intensify.

Therefore, it could only play another one of its trump cards immediately.

"You talk first. If I’m satisfied, the torture ends here," Qi Suian said, his hands never stopping as he continued to lie with a straight face.

"His left eye was injured by a human Cultivator. As long as..." King Zhen Ao said hurriedly.

"That’s it? I thought it was some kind of fatal weakness," Qi Suian said, sounding very disappointed.

There are weaknesses, and then there are weaknesses.

Judging from the nature of Cold Energy Monsters, even losing an eye would have an effect, but it definitely wouldn’t be as significant as one might think.

So, this piece of information from King Zhen Ao wasn’t enough to earn it general anesthesia from Qi Suian.

Instead, continuing to teach King Zhen Ao the meaning of obedience was what Qi Suian needed to do.

-----------------

"My ability... it’s finally awakened." A look of joy spread across Tang Qing’s face.

The ability he had awakened was called Cold Winter Ice Dragon. As the name suggested, it allowed him to control wind, snow, low temperatures, and other such powers, and he could even transform into a dragon using wind and snow.

"My aptitude has improved as well. It seems this ability has not only given me great power but also reforged my body."

"With this, the resources needed for the Taiyin Refining Technique have dropped by ninety percent, and my cultivation speed is even faster."

Tang Qing felt it for a moment, then transformed into the Cold Winter Ice Dragon. Its massive body and majestic appearance exuded a powerful aura.

"I can completely disguise myself as a Cold Energy Monster, and a Beast King-level one at that!"

In this life, he had come into contact with more things, so he naturally knew more.

’But there’s one more question. If Cold Winter Ice Dragon is my ability, then what about the spatial ability my ancestral Jade Pendant gave me?’

’Could it be the ability I was supposed to awaken in my past life?’ Tang Qing was also puzzled; he had never heard of anyone awakening two abilities.

As he thought about it, he realized the spatial ability hadn’t actually been awakened; it was something he had from the moment he was reborn.

So, if it were to be awakened, it could only have happened in his previous life.

After thinking for two minutes, he gave up.

He didn’t have the slightest clue. Rather than dwell on it, he was better off thinking about how to develop his Cold Winter Ice Dragon ability and cultivate the Taiyin Refining Technique.

As for his spatial ability, he didn’t need to worry. It would expand as his Spirit attribute increased, which was the most ideal way for it to improve.

The Cold Winter Ice Dragon ability, on the other hand, had complex effects and provided a massive boost. To fully unleash its potential, he would have to rely on his own time and resources.