Chapter 191: Surfacing

After closing the front door, the Ravager said to Su Chen, “As the Chieftain has ordered, I, Mole, will unconditionally obey your commands.”

Su Chen nodded. “What I need you to do is very simple. Don’t worry about me; just accept the baptism normally. During this period of time, I might need your help with a few things, so I hope that you will be able to comply then. Of course, I will also do my best to ensure that your baptism goes successfully.

The Ravager nodded and walked into the large temple.

At the center of the temple was a large metal pool that had been filled to the brim with a white liquid.

This metal pool was surrounded by intricate layers of Origin Formations. The inscriptions were so extensive that they even sprawled across the floor to reach up the four walls of the temple.

The Ravager took off his clothes and stepped into the pool, completely naked. As he stepped in, the white medicinal liquid went up to his midsection.

He spread his hands and grabbed a metal rod in front of him. At the same time, a thick, metal chain wrapped itself around his body, firmly locking him in place.

At the same time, the Origin Energy Extractor began to revolve rapidly, causing large amounts of condensed Origin Energy to rapidly course through the Origin Formation inscriptions like electricity in a circuit, descending constantly. Finally, it all slammed into Mole’s body with a resounding boom.

“AH!” Mole tilted his head back and howled bitterly with pain. Even the hair on his skin was standing up straight.

Origin Energy crackled across his body like lightning, furiously burrowing in and out viciously. Hairline fissures cracked open all across his skin, causing fresh blood to spray through the air.

Even without the aid of his microscopic eye, Su Chen could see that Mole’s lifeforce was rapidly waning under the frightening, boundless torrent of energy.

If the baptism were to continue like this, it wouldn’t be long before he was killed.

Even so, just a brief moment later, the white liquid began to rapidly enter his body, causing Mole’s lifeforce to rapidly regenerate.

So it was a liquid that could help a person recover their lifeforce?

And it was quite a high-quality kind as well!

Su Chen had confirmed this as soon as he saw the bubbling white liquid.

This kind of liquid was actually pretty similar to Su Chen’s Recovery Medicines, but one of the key differences was that the lifeforce recovery liquid could only recover lifeforce itself, not heal wounds. As such, its practicality was much less than that of his Recovery Medicines. In terms of pure lifeforce recovery, however, this liquid was simple and vastly more effective.

The frightening waves of Origin Energy continued to slam into Mole’s body, seriously injuring him; however, the lifeforce recovery liquid ensured that he stayed alive, preventing any of his wounds from becoming fatal. During this period of time, Mole seemed to be precariously perched as he walked the line between life and death as wave after wave of intense Origin Energy washed over him.

At this point, Su Chen already understood the principles behind the operation of the Origin Energy Temple.

The seemingly complex, profound Divine Shrine was actually using an incredibly crude method at its core.

In typical Ravager fashion, they relied on brute-forcing Origin Energy into the target’s body, baptizing the target via a storm of Origin Energy. It didn’t change the fundamental physical makeup of their bodies; instead, the Ravagers would adapt to and become more familiar with the power of Origin Energy via this with such barbaric methods, eventually allowing them to absorb and manipulate the Origin Energy in their surroundings.

No matter how inept the Ravagers were at absorbing Origin Energy, it was impossible for them to not absorb some when it was crashing into them like this.

This could be roughly compared to eating bowls of rice. Suppose a person could normally comfortably eat one bowl of rice and digest it. But if that person were force-fed ten bowls at once, it would be hard for them to digest the nine others bowls, and the rice would sit in the stomach undigested. If this buildup wasn’t dealt with appropriately, it could result in massive damage.

The Origin Energy Temple relied on this kind of tactic to forcefully instill the Ravagers’ bodies with Origin Energy as it would not be able to dissipate all of it. Eventually, enough would accumulate in their bodies that they would forcefully open up an Origin Sea in their own bodies, with the help of the nearby Origin Formations.

This kind of simple, crude tactic had actually come from the wise and farsighted Arcanists. Su Chen felt as if his eyes had been opened again.

However, understanding the underlying principles was not enough. Su Chen also needed to understand what exactly it did to a Ravager’s physical body.

He activated his microscopic eye, and all of the changes taking place in Mole’s body immediately revealed themselves to him.

“So that’s indeed how it is. This kind of forcible opening causes a certain amount of injury to the body, and the surrounding impurities also invade the body through this path, tainting their Origin Sea. The violent energy can disrupt the body’s channels or even destroy them, and that causes the person’s consciousness sea to be stimulated and sometimes react to it. No wonder there are cases of Ravagers going insane after their baptism…… This is almost illogically foolhardy. Perhaps only the Ravagers could withstand such physical punishment,” Su Chen muttered to himself.

The Origin Energy Temple was essentially forcefully carving new channels through the Ravager’s body. Whatever way those channels turned out was they way they turned out, and improving or changing them was basically impossible.

This was also the reason why Temple Warriors who had undergone baptisms before could only advance with more baptisms; this kind of tactic simply created too many problems in their bodies.

Mole’s Origin Sea was gradually carved into existence under the furious onslaught of energy. The vessels and channels in his body all ruptured, only to rapidly recover and reshape with the support of the powerful life recovery liquid.

The white pool was now dyed scarlet with fresh blood.

At first, it had been pink, representing a mix of red and white, but it had gradually turned a deeper and deeper red over time.

This was due to the accumulation of blood, as well as the decrease of medicinal power of the bath.

The rate at which Mole’s lifeforce was recovering was beginning to slow, and his lifeforce was also slowly beginning to wane.

This helped Su Chen realize yet another point: This was why the Ravagers had used to be able to survive for thousands of years, but now none of them seemed able to live past four hundred.

Because experiencing baptisms consumed a large amount of their lifeforce.

Humans could extend their lifespan based on their bloodlines and cultivation, but the Ravagers seemed to be unable to do the same.

The baptism was nearing its conclusion.

Mole’s howls began to grow quieter as they died out.

He grabbed the handrail and groaned. It seemed as if he had aged by quite a bit.

Su Chen sighed slightly when he saw this and handed him a vial of Recovery Medicine. “Drink up.”

A high-tier Recovery Medicine was much more effective than the lifeforce recovery liquid, but only Ravager nobles were allowed to use them.

Mole shot him a grateful look, then took the vial and tossed it back into his mouth. The lifeforce he had expended was rapidly recovered, and his youthful look returned (despite the fact that regardless of his youth, his face was always quite ugly and contorted).

Once the last bit of Origin Energy landed on Mole, Mole’s Origin Sea was completed.

Su Chen had also realized another point from this experience: they were applying a fixed amount of Origin Energy but to different areas, making the end result stiff and inflexible.

With Mole’s talent, his Origin Sea could have been upgraded a bit more, but since the Origin Energy Temple had stopped its infusion, this was as far as he could go.

He would have to wait to enter again after his physical condition had reached the appropriate level and he had made sufficient preparations.

Mole walked out of the pool and put on his clothes. “The baptism is complete.”

“Mhm,” Su Chen responded faintly.

Since the baptism was over, it was time to leave.

The tactic they had used earlier wouldn’t work again, so they would need to try something else.

They glanced at each other before Su Chen concealed himself in one of the darker corners of the temples, allowing the shadows to envelop him.

“Creak……”

The doors opened with a creak, allowing light into the temple.

A large group of servants ran in, preparing to clean the interior of the temple completely.

A few of the servants headed for the pool in the center to clean it, while the rest proceeded to clean the nearby walls.

One of the Ravager servants walked over to one of the temple’s columns. Just as he was about to begin cleaning, he realized that there was actually a person hiding in the shadows. The surprise from this caused him to involuntarily cry out, “Ah……”

Before his yell could end, Mole made a move. He appeared right next to that servant like an apparition and unleashed a palm strike, killing him instantly.

The cry of shock was cut short. Because Mole’s movements had been so quick, no one had actually seen what had happened, and they all thought that the cry had been due to Mole’s attack.

None of the other servants could comprehend what had happened. They all turned to look at Mole in shock.

Mole drew back his blood-soaked hands, acting as if he was reveling in euphoria. “This feeling…… it’s too good!”

As he spoke, his figure flashed through the air, and he teleported next to another servant. He punched out, and his fist slammed into the servant’s back.

This fist strike was incredibly vicious. Even with his powerful physique, the Ravager servant had no way of enduring the blow, not to mention the fact that he was a Ravager of the lowest social status. This single punch was more than enough to blast him into pieces.

Mole glanced at his fist and said, “Not bad, not bad! This is really addicting. Hahahaha, I’ve tried using my palms and my fists. Maybe I should try out the power of my legs next.”

As he spoke, he gazed at the other servants, as if he was about to kill again.

The servants were all badly stunned. They forgot everything else and threw down their tools, every one of them sprinting out the front door as fast as they could, afraid that Mole would choose them as the target.

As they ran around in a panic, Su Chen took advantage of the opportunity to mingle in with the rest of them. He was originally a servant in the first place, so no one detected his presence when he snuck into their ranks. When you factored in the immense fear that Mole had instilled in them, and given that he had already killed two servants, no one was ever going to notice that an additional person had infiltrated their group.

Su Chen followed the tide of people out of the temple. The guards standing outside had charged over by this point. They were stunned when they saw two corpses lying on the ground. “What’s going on here?”

Mole frowned. “I was just trying out my newfound strength on a few cheap slaves is all.”

“How bold!” The Ancestor who was following closely behind saw this situation. “You merely gained a bit of power, and now you dare wantonly slaughter the servants of the temple? Seize him at once!”

“Who dares seize me!?” Mole howled fiercely. He actually began to trade blows with the guards there.

However, it was quite obvious that he was not the guards’ opponents. They easily captured him, shoving him out of the Origin Energy Temple.

They had just walked out of the temple when Danba strode forward to greet them. “Priest Handu! Mole just happened to lose control of his newly acquired power. I promise that he will not do something like this again; so please, be generous to him.”

Handu harrumphed. “He killed the servants of the Divine Shrine. If I let him go here, how will I account this to the Divine Shrine?”

“Temporary insanity after experiencing the baptism is not that uncommon. I believe that’s what happened to Mole here,” Danba said.

“But it doesn’t seem like he’s insane right now to me,” Handu replied.

Danba grabbed Handu’s hand. Handu felt an object being pressed into it.

It was an Origin Ring.

Danba sincerely said, “Please, Priest, take another look.”

After inspecting the items within the Origin Ring, Handu glanced at Mole again, then said, “Oh, now it does seem a bit like it, but the situation doesn’t quite seem to add up just yet.”

Danba sighed and pulled out another Origin Ring, handing it over to Handu.

A wide smile appeared on Priest Handus’ face. “Yes, these are truly the signs of temporary post-baptism insanity. Since that’s the case, then we can forget about it. You should take him back and teach him a good lesson, and then bring restitution for the dead servants, and that will be good enough.”

“Thank you for your benevolence!” Danba replied respectfully.