Chapter 124: The Twin Stars, Jiang Liuying (Part II)

"Squeak!" The monster with cockroach genes looked up at the arrogant woman, green saliva dripping more noticeably from its mouth. It was clearly agitated. After a moment, it stood upright, staring at her with a chilling gaze, before its entire form suddenly turned transparent and vanished right before Jiang Liuying’s eyes.

"Heh!" An intrigued expression appeared on Jiang Liuying's face. This time, the creature hadn't disappeared due to speed; it had simply vanished. It was true invisibility.

"What kind of gene is this? Chameleon? Tsk tsk!" Jiang Liuying chuckled and slowly strolled down from mid-air. "What is this supposed to mean? Do you think this makes you untouchable?" She then smiled with a sinister air. "Do you not play games? Don't you know that mages always have AOE?"

As she spoke, she snapped her left fingers with a crisp sound. Cracks suddenly appeared in the space surrounding the monster, which then shattered with a loud bang. The sharp, fragmented shards raged through that position like a storm, and the clear sound of flesh being shredded, accompanied by visible splatters of green liquid, filled the air.

The shard storm lasted for nearly thirty seconds before Jiang Liuying flicked her fingers to stop it. Looking at the green liquid covering the ground, she looked disgusted. "How gross..." A flicker of doubt crossed her mind. Shouldn't this thing reveal its true form when it dies? This wasn't like the plots in movies!

Suddenly, she felt several distinct air currents near the ground, causing her pupils to constrict. It wasn't dead yet—what a cockroach! That level of laceration should have at least cut it into dozens of pieces.

In the next moment, a sharp claw pierced through her chest from behind. Jiang Liuying’s expression stiffened, but instead of blood, her body dissolved into a pile of fragments. She reappeared several meters away, staring coldly at her opponent.

"I knew it!" The creature sneered at her. "This skill of yours is passive, isn't it? Which means it doesn't require nerve reaction time!"

"What makes you so sure it isn't based on my reaction time?" Jiang Liuying asked with a smile.

"Didn't you just say you were a mage?" The creature laughed. "I've played games too. Mages usually don't have high agility stats, or it would break the balance!"

"Is that so..." Jiang Liuying laughed. Just as she was about to say more, her smile froze. Another black claw burst through her chest. She looked at the opponent in shock, for she could clearly see that the creature hadn't moved at all; it was still standing there, wearing a cold sneer. This bizarre situation brought a flash of realization to her mind. Her body dissolved into countless fragments again, and this time, she reappeared at a much greater distance.

From that vantage point, she could clearly see the two directions from which she had been attacked... Just as she thought! Jiang Liuying’s pupils constricted—she saw two identical creatures in her field of vision.

"Now, let me answer your question from earlier..." The voices of the two monsters blended together, sounding even more grating.

"I don't just have the chameleon genes you mentioned; I have earthworm genes, too!" It laughed. "But I don't have fly genes—the transplant failed!"

Several meters away, Jiang Liuying frowned as she looked around. There were at least thirty of them! She said coldly, "You really have transplanted some disgusting things. I’m curious, with so many clones, who is the master? Can you keep splitting like this indefinitely?"

"Not at all!" The creature seemed to be in high spirits. It replied with a smile, "Due to energy constraints, this is the limit. Besides, all the clones are controlled by my single consciousness. You wouldn't understand this marvelous feeling!"

"The clones must have a very short lifespan, right?"

"Ah, about ten minutes!" Its expression turned icy. "But that is more than enough to kill you!" As soon as the words left its mouth, Jiang Liuying was assaulted by two monsters and sliced in half.

After this scene repeated for the eighth time, the moment she reappeared, one of the monsters lunged forward, grabbed her by the throat, and lifted her up. It grinned hideously, "This is your last substitution, isn't it?"

Jiang Liuying: "............."

"I have read your Western fantasy novels. Doesn't that Taoist philosophy say that nine is the extreme number? And..." It pointed another finger at the string of crystal beads on Jiang Liuying’s left wrist. At some point, the beads, which had originally been blood-red, had turned a chilling black!

"I noticed it. Every time you use this substitution skill, a bead turns black. There happen to be nine beads, and this is the last one, right? What will happen if they all turn black?" Without waiting for an answer, it crushed her throat. Of course, as always, no blood sprayed out; she merely turned into countless fragments.

But in the next moment, a cold voice appeared right beside its ear: "You just asked... what would happen if the beads all turned black?"

The monster felt a chill run straight down its spine. How did she dare to appear so close for her final time? But for some reason, the woman's voice and aura filled it with an indescribable terror.

It subconsciously lashed out with a claw, but immediately discovered that its hand was restrained, held as if by an iron shackle, unable to move at all.

The scene shocked it beyond measure. Although it didn't turn around, its dozens of other perspectives clearly saw that the woman hadn't used any magical means; she had simply grabbed it with her bare hand!

Moreover, her appearance had changed completely. Her delicate, lovely face was now covered in bright red scales, as were her hands and slender legs. The biological aura radiating from her was icy and incredibly powerful!

"Heh!" A sinister grin flashed across Jiang Liuying’s face. Her once radiant golden pupils had turned dark gold, and her expression was filled with intense malice. It was completely different from before; there were no adjectives to describe it. Even covered in scales, she remained beautiful, but every detail revealed a bone-chilling cruelty. Each glance and smile emitted a piercing cold.

She twisted her hand. With a crunching sound of twisting flesh and shattering bone, the monster was twisted from its arm to its body, spiraling into a puddle of meat.

Wasn't she a mage? The monster was seized with panic. It subconsciously controlled two other clones to charge, but in the next moment, she vanished from their field of vision and reappeared in front of a clone in the upper left. The two that had charged stood frozen in place, and the next second, they shattered into pulp.

What... what kind of monster is this? Terrified, it controlled all remaining clones to scatter and flee. All the copies, including itself, turned transparent and bolted. Even while invisible, it had no courage to turn back and fight. It didn't even dare to use the clones to test her. Her speed was too bizarre; it hadn't even been able to track her. At that speed, if it had hesitated for a few more seconds, it might have been wiped out entirely. What happened to her being a mage? What exactly was this?

If Guo Lang were here, he would surely explain that she was indeed a mage—a "Demon-Changing Mage."

The Occultist profession is quite unique. Its techniques are not limited to the release of various energies; it can utilize energy impacts, create objects out of thin air—like bread or water—and even construct portals. Many people are confused about which category they fall into. In fact, records have long stated they belong to Alchemy. Occultists are the ultimate manifestation of alchemical arts, utilizing their own spiritual power to communicate with energy for direct equivalent exchange, capable of transmuting anything from nothingness. This miraculous technique is called "Immortal Art" in many planes, and the state of activating their Arcane Mode is known as "Immortal Transformation."

As Xie Lin once said, because the mage profession involves energy, it inevitably has both positive and negative aspects. The negative branch of the Occultist is the Demon-Changing Mage, another form of alchemy. It uses the "Inverse Alchemy Array"—rather than using energy to change the rules of the world to create new substances, it uses energy to change oneself, using one's own body as a vessel to manifest monsters from records, or even mythological beasts!

In the industry, this technique is known as: Demon Transformation!