Somewhere along the line, without anyone noticing when or how, the Bloodline descendants and the Dark Creatures began a massive relocation. In just over a month, with a long, drawn-out sigh, Mo Ta Long Gen and the Dark Creatures vanished without a trace. The angels simply could not fathom where they had gone.

No one offered the angels any explanation. Everything felt like a phantom dream; the Mo Ta Long Gen they were confronting, and the Dark Creatures attacking simultaneously on the other flank of the Bloodline descendants, were simply gone, not even a single hair left behind.

The angels looked around in bewilderment, filled with profound melancholy, completely unaware of what had transpired.

Mo Ta Long Gen had recalled his most elite and powerful direct Bloodline descendants, guiding them to Earth to be incorporated and led by Gu Xie Chen. Like Mo Ta Long Gen himself, this batch of Bloodline descendants joined the Nine Nether Path, all bearing the title of Guardian Spirit Beast.

The Dark Creatures were similarly assimilated; over two hundred Dark Deities, all possessing Golden Immortal cultivation, were forcibly inducted under the Corpse Emperor, becoming the Guardians of the Nine Nether Path—whether they consented or not—after their souls were subjected to the Great Desolation Scripture’s Witch-Curse restraints.

Beneath the newly formed crust of the Earth, on the nascent Moon, on the Heaven Star, and across the Thirteen Linked Star Domain, as well as on dozens of planets near the Solar System directly controlled by the Earth Federation, the Dark Creatures carved out new homelands, beginning a period of recovery and recuperation.

The Bloodline descendants and the Dark Creatures were undeniably blessed, receiving generous treatment from Gu Xie Chen and the Corpse Emperor. Techniques for absorbing the Yin essence for dark power, drawn from the memories of Rahu and the methods of the Grand Yin Scripture, were passed down. Consequently, the cultivation levels of the Bloodline descendants and Dark Creatures soared rapidly.

Under the leadership of Blackjack, the Dark Empire formed by the Bloodline descendants and Dark Creatures developed by leaps and bounds; their level of civilization advanced exponentially. Relying on divine authority and brute force, Blackjack gradually forged these scattered groups into a sharp, efficient fighting force.

Time slipped by unnoticed, several years flashing past.

During these years, fierce battles raged across the territories controlled by Star Dream. The deaths of Yu Guan Zi and Fei Xing Dao Ren did not halt the sacred plans of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths; the cultivators of the lower realms continued to fight and die for the division of these holy domains. Because Golden Immortals were stationed there, the Spiral Star Domain and the surrounding cosmos remained remarkably peaceful, with no troublemakers emerging.

Gu Xie Chen, too, enjoyed several years of carefree existence. Sometimes he toured widely holding Fu Ya Ming’s hand, other times he returned to the Earth Federation to inspect favored Dark Creatures in a few provinces, secretly cultivating a batch of sharp lieutenants, or simply gathered friends to wander about. There was always ample enjoyment for him to savor, contemplate, and experience.

Gu Xie Chen was making extensive preparations for the descent of the myriad gods and devils from the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, scheduled for six decades hence. Though he appeared to be idly roaming and enjoying himself now, he was actually preparing for an incredibly daring endeavor. Because the risks associated with this undertaking were enormous, he sought absolute perfection in his preparations.

One day, as Gu Xie Chen was returning to Earth alone, Dun Hua rushed toward him in a flurry, grabbing him and pulling him away.

Confused by the abruptness, Gu Xie Chen was likewise whisked by Dun Hua to a secluded island, from where they could already hear screams and pleas for mercy echoing in the distance.

This particular island was where the humans created by Nuwa’s avatar resided. This avatar had shielded the Earth and used the Soil of Creation and her own vital essence to meticulously re-forge humanity from the fragmented souls of billions of wronged dead from the Earth Federation.

These people possessed innate pure bodies and the hearts of babes, born with powerful divine abilities and magic, yet they were entirely free and unrestrained. Although Nuwa had given them guidance, they willingly followed the arrangements made by Gu Xie Chen and the others. Now that the majority of the Earth Federation's mortals had returned to live on Earth, these innate beings had moved to this island, which spanned an area equivalent to a continent.

The island boasted eternally blooming flowers, abundant lush vegetation, and sweet fruits; birds and beasts flourished, making the scenery exquisite—the entire island was a veritable Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land. The concentration of worldly spiritual energy was astonishing, an ideal place for cultivation. These innate people desired nothing material; they had built simple thatched huts on the island and were contentedly living out their days in peace.

However, precisely because the souls of these innate beings were composed of the soul fragments of billions of Earth humans who had died violently, their actions and behaviors began to subtly change over time, gradually falling under the influence of those residual soul shards.

For example, among about four or five thousand innate people, the soul fragments dominated by the violently deceased Hell Angel Mercenary Group members and Earth Federation soldiers actively joined the ranks of the Hardwood Defense Company and the Earth Federation over these past few years, becoming mainstays in the military. They required no training; they adapted instantly to all military rules and systems. Others—those dominated by the soul fragments of the former Federal Academy of Sciences—now, coupled with their current immense power, possessed clearer cognitive understanding of various natural substances and laws. Building upon their residual knowledge base, these individuals eagerly returned to the Academy, quickly making outstanding contributions across various research fields.

Still others had soul fragments primarily rooted in artistry, making them exceptional in everything from the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, to singing and dancing. Large numbers of celebrities, instantly adored by the masses, sprang up in the Earth Federation like mushrooms after rain.

There were also some who displayed peculiar tendencies: liking to sell butchered beasts, preferring to skin wild animals and tattoo their own skin with the hides, or carrying spray paint cans to deface walls everywhere. These strange behaviors emerged constantly. Yet, they remained obedient, so Gu Xie Chen largely ignored them. After all, they were humans created by Nuwa herself; interfering too much with their conduct might hinder their cultivation and development, which could be seen as slighting Nuwa.

Knowing that Nuwa’s avatar still slumbered deep within the Earth’s core, Gu Xie Chen had no intention of provoking these people.

Thus, upon hearing the screams ahead, Gu Xie Chen gave Dun Hua an unimpressed glare.

"What now? Someone has 'awakened'—remembering being a castrator or a surgeon? Can't you just handle it yourselves?"

Currently, everyone aware of the existence of these innate beings referred to the situation where the memories and instincts of certain soul fragments suddenly took complete precedence, wholly controlling a person's body, as an "Awakening." Many people had awakened in recent years, so Gu Xie Chen could not understand why Dun Hua was making such a fuss.

Dun Hua offered a bitter smile and pulled Gu Xie Chen along cautiously. They rounded a small hillock dotted with berries and found a shallow depression ahead, saturated with a pungent stench of blood. A small pool of bloody water had collected on the ground where several Dark Creatures and a few minor demons from the Nine Nether Path who had not yet attained human form lay howling in agony.

An innate person stood fixedly before these Dark Creatures and minor demons, holding two gleaming surgical scalpels. She frowned, seemingly lost in thought. She wore a dazzlingly white lab coat, its pockets bulging with several small, exquisite instruments. On her face perched a pair of delicate, gold-rimmed spectacles, making her look exactly like a doctor from an emergency center.

A mutated Silver Wolfman, who possessed wings on his back, was undergoing an operation. The silver wings had been meticulously dissected by the scalpels; the severed wings floated before the woman, revealing the layers of muscle and nerve fibers clearly exposed to the air where they were detached. The technique used by the woman to cut off the wings was exceptionally precise, causing no damage to the underlying muscles or nerves controlling them.

After a long moment, the woman suddenly emitted a sharp, weird, and chillingly familiar cackle: "Hehehehehe."

She forcefully kicked the small weasel-like demon, who was lying immobilized on the ground. The woman shrieked, “Don’t be scared, little demon. Your auntie is doing you a favor, oh hehehehe. You’re just a weasel, and you can’t fly, right? Attach these two wings to your back, and you can experience the joy of flight many years ahead of schedule. Isn't that wonderful?”

After howling at the sky for a while, the woman squatted down, flipped over the pale-faced weasel demon whose own screams had ceased, and with a slash, tore its coarse grey robe in half. The scalpel moved swiftly a few times, shaving the yellow fur clean from the back of the demon, who was still frozen in fear. The woman then pulled out a marker pen and drew two precise lines on the primary muscle groups on the little demon’s back.

Judging by her movements, she intended to make an incision along those two marks and affix the Silver Wolfman’s wings onto the little demon’s body.

The little demon, "Xiao Yao," had already fainted from terror. Its weasel instinct kicked in, causing a continuous string of foul-smelling gas to erupt from its body, spreading noxious fumes everywhere. Gu Xie Chen and Dun Hua frantically covered their noses, unable to help, while the few Dark Creatures and minor demons lying on the ground cursed loudly. But the woman seemed to lack a nose entirely, showing no reaction whatsoever.

The woman held the scalpel over the little demon's back muscles, then suddenly frowned. "No, this won't work. Your back muscle group is too fragile; it won't be strong enough to flap these wings and lift your body into flight. Hmm, I'll need to make some other adjustments."

Flipping her hand, an exquisite syringe appeared, flashing a cold light. The woman let out a few strange laughs and viciously plunged the syringe deep into the little demon’s back muscle. A vial of thick, ink-black liquid was injected into the demon’s body. The demon shrieked in pain, suddenly jolting awake from its stupor. Xiao Yao howled heartbreakingly, “Save me! What sin did I commit in my past life!”

Gu Xie Chen felt a pang of distaste. This little demon was a disciple of the Nine Nether Path, and this woman was being utterly unhinged.

However, the methods she was employing—the very style of her procedure—reminded him sharply of certain acquaintances from his past. Gu Xie Chen frowned, pondering whether he should intervene to stop this woman from experimenting on a Nine Nether Path disciple.

Suddenly, the woman burst into laughter, vigorously patting the muscles on the little demon’s back. She roared, "Don't be afraid, don't panic! This is a good thing! Auntie managed to extract this tiny bit of muscle modification gene from a Mo Ta Long Gen body. It can enhance your muscle group strength by hundreds of times! It will be more than enough for you to propel these wings and fly!"

Enhance muscle group strength by hundreds of times?

Gu Xie Chen, who was about to step out and stop her, froze in his tracks. Such vivisectional biological experiments were barbaric and utterly heinous, but could what this woman was saying be true? Could this modification gene genuinely boost muscle strength by several hundredfold?

If true, the implications for the Earth Federation would be monumental. While the clone soldiers and bio-insectoid soldiers were powerful, increasing their strength by several hundredfold meant even ordinary Golden Immortal cultivators might not be their match. Such modification technology was practically equivalent to instantly generating Golden Immortal cultivators.

Gu Xie Chen and Dun Hua exchanged a look, then silently retreated a few steps, hiding themselves within the cluster of berries. Lowering his voice, Gu Xie Chen whispered, "Don't you think this woman looks awfully familiar?"

Dun Hua pointed at the woman's toenails and fingernails, dyed a deep purplish-red, and sneered wryly, "Indeed, extremely familiar. That madwoman, Ulis, dressed exactly like this. But her lab coat and scalpels… they look like Maria’s."

Maria. Gu Xie Chen sighed, instinctively touching his own backside, recalling how many times needles had been stuck into him by that woman in the past.

It was highly probable that this being was a combination of their wills. Out of the billions of people in the Earth Federation, few managed to fuse with Christal Orbs to elevate their mental power to rival that of a Golden Immortal. Among billions, if certain soul fragments were destined to dominate, Ulis and Maria were undoubtedly those candidates.

The fusion of the mad scientist Ulis and the perverted medical monster Maria!

God save these unfortunate souls. Gu Xie Chen helplessly watched the Dark Creatures and minor demons howling in the blood pool, then made the sign of the cross over his chest. Thinking of the word 'God,' a sudden, savage glint flashed in Gu Xie Chen's eyes.

The woman took out several more large syringes, accompanied by that grating, ear-splitting "hehehehe" laughter, and injected all the various potions into the doomed little weasel demon. The demon’s body, originally barely three feet five or six inches tall, began to expand rapidly; its muscles swelled as if it were a rising dough bun. In just two breaths’ time, the little demon transformed into a burly, eight-foot-tall giant.

The little demon’s strength had indeed been immensely augmented. Although he was magically restrained from moving, his two arms thrashed with tremendous force, slamming into the ground. The earth trembled; nearby dozens of small hills shook violently. This was not ordinary striking power; even an ordinary Golden Immortal using spells could barely achieve this effect, yet this newly transformed Xiao Yao managed it effortlessly.

The woman broke into a maniacal smile. She giggled happily, quickly separating the muscle tissue on the little demon’s back and bringing the massive wings close to its flesh. The woman’s fingers danced deftly, as she skillfully separated the demon’s muscles and nerve tissue and spliced them together with the wings. The little demon screamed skyward in agony, while the mutilated Silver Wolfman, whose wings had been harvested, also wailed mournfully toward the heavens.

She landed a heavy kick squarely on the immobilized Silver Wolfman’s belly and sharply commanded, "Shut up!"

The brutal impact knocked the wolfman unconscious. The surrounding Dark Creatures and minor demons immediately clamped shut, leaving only the incessant shrieks of the little demon undergoing the grafting surgery to echo out.

The woman seemed to relish these screams, working on the surgery with deliberate, unhurried movements, occasionally emitting those sinister laughs that made Gu Xie Chen’s and Dun Hua’s scalps prickle. Wild flames burned in the woman's eyes—the kind of zealous fire seen only in an artist creating amidst the consumption of their own life force. To her, this wasn't a transplant operation; it was a ritualistic art form.

When the surgery finally concluded, the woman smeared an ointment on the little demon’s raw wounds and then delivered a hard kick to Xiao Yao’s rear end.

The little demon let out a piercing screech, and the wings on its back flapped violently. It shot upward like a gale. Alas, Xiao Yao had never learned to fly! After barely traveling a thousand meters, he slammed headfirst into a large mountain, resulting in a bloody mess. He crumpled to the ground, clutching his head and groaning incessantly.

The woman stood proudly with her hands on her hips, sighing contentedly, "Praise the great Gu Xie Chen! He has brought back so many excellent test subjects!"

She paused, tapping her chin thoughtfully, then frowned, "How can I get him to hand over all those excellent experimental subjects to me?"

Gently patting her own face, the woman muttered narcissistically, "A genius girl as naturally gifted as myself—if I actively dedicate myself to him, surely he’ll hand over that Three-Headed Black Dragon and all the other large creatures for my experiments, right?"

"Oh, ho ho ho! If I clone the body of that Three-Headed Dragon, alter the genes of its clone to make it grow into a female dragon, and then force it to mate with my own female clone, the resulting offspring will theoretically undergo the most extreme genetic optimization! Oh, I really want to see how powerful he and his resulting progeny would be!"

Cold sweat streamed down Gu Xie Chen’s forehead. It was definitely Ulis, that madwoman.

Based on his previous knowledge of the Federal Academy of Sciences, no one other than Ulis could possess such extreme, self-destructive genius. And only Ulis would employ such heinous, morally repugnant methods of biochemical experimentation!

Shaking his head, Gu Xie Chen clapped Dun Hua on the shoulder and whispered his instructions, "Absorb her into the Academy. Satisfy all her demands!"

Dun Hua stared blankly at Gu Xie Chen, asking in shock, "And if she demands the cooperation of Mo Ta Long Gen…"

Gu Xie Chen looked at Dun Hua nonchalantly. "Then let him cooperate. It’s just drawing some blood, taking some tissue samples for experiments!"

He let out a few carefree, mocking laughs and turned to leave.

Ulis? Very good, very good. The Mo Ta Long Gen lineage genes were already a chaotic mess to begin with. Let’s see what bizarre results she can conjure. Heh, mutate, mutate! Since the Three-Headed Dragon Mo Ta Long Gen is no good anyway, let her mess with them however she wants. Let them mutate to their heart's content!

Gu Xie Chen had far more pressing matters to attend to now.

In just three hundred years, he needed his forces to be able to defend themselves against the sacred violence of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths. He needed greater power!

To quickly strengthen himself and those around him, he had no choice but to resort to certain unorthodox or even heretical methods. Within the Great Desolation Scripture lay an utterly wicked technique: the "Profound Yin Form Refining and Origin Seizing Grand Method." Gu Xie Chen had to master this dark art!