Chapter 1378 - 20: Internal Strife

"Those who safeguard the realm, let their lords and ministers, the meat-eaters, scheme for it; those who safeguard All Under Heaven, even the lowly commoner bears responsibility."

"Yanjing—this is my unavoidable duty as Yanjing’s leader. To protect the nation, that is my second obligation as Commander-in-Chief of Yanjing... and my first obligation is to protect All Under Heaven!"

"Now the Demon Tribe has invaded, the world is in catastrophe. In the five years since I took office, what Yanjing has done is plain for all to see. Our warriors fight on the front lines, my soul pet guards the Demon Realm’s Gate—but is that alone enough?"

"No, it’s far from enough! Because this world isn’t just my world, it’s everyone’s world. This isn’t just my responsibility, it’s everyone’s responsibility."

When Tang Haofei woke from Chaos, what he saw was the Exchange Stone Pillar’s broadcast screen, with Wen Yu standing at the podium, spouting flowery bullshit, putting on that shameless act of "taking the world as his own duty."

Tang Haofei only sneered at this—some things are buried deep in a man’s bones. No matter how deeply they’re hidden, they’re like a time bomb: at some future moment, triggered by some variable, they’ll blow straight to hell.

To put it in a more down-to-earth way, this is called...

"A dog can’t stop eating shit!"

Watching Wen Yu yapping on and on in the image, Tang Haofei felt a wave of pent-up rage surge up from his chest. His heart was in chaos; he hurriedly stood up, wanting to get a bit farther away from this shameless bastard.

But just as Tang Haofei rose to his feet, he suddenly realized his body was undergoing some kind of unusual change.

Two powerful forces were crisscrossing within him, circulating nonstop. One was his original species innate talent—countless refreshes through Life and Death Battle Execution had pushed Tang Haofei’s species innate talent to a sky-breaking level! And the other was a new, unknown species innate talent.

This unknown species innate talent intertwined and fused with the original one, actually triggering some kind of second transformation based on principles unknown!

Old Tang clenched his fist hard. A tremendous force burst from his fingertips, ripping the air and shattering space. In the blink of an eye, a miniature black hole formed in his palm.

Seeing this, Tang Haofei couldn’t help arching a brow. He carefully sensed every change in his body, and after a moment, he finally understood.

Stronger again...

After the Conversion of species, Tang Haofei had turned into a demon spawn. The demon spawn’s species innate talent stacked and fused with the original divine beast species innate talent, actually driving a secondary enhancement of the species innate talent.

Wen Yu had, of course, gone through this same scene.

Tang Haofei narrowed his eyes and roughly estimated the magnitude of his power-up. After a moment, Old Tang split his mouth wide and laughed out loud.

"Thirty percent... not a lot, but damn, that’s a nice surprise."

Thinking that, he once again turned his gaze to the Exchange Stone Pillar.

Wen Yu was still on the podium, making an impassioned speech. Tang Haofei’s eyes stayed locked on him, but his gaze grew colder and colder!

He was assessing—assessing the power gap between them, assessing when he could return to Earth and take out this mountain standing in his way.

As he watched, his eyes slowly went unfocused, as if he’d downed too much bad liquor. Tang Haofei’s body swayed, then toppled straight to the ground!

...

His consciousness gradually drifted away from his body. When his body finally slipped completely out of control, Tang Haofei realized the situation he was facing.

He clenched his fists hard. His first reaction was that there must be a trap in the method of species Conversion! But as the dizziness faded, Tang Haofei reopened his eyes and saw the familiar little wooden hut and the human Shadow standing before him—only then did he fully understand!

"What the hell is going on?"

Faced with Tang N’s question, Tang Two stayed silent. He only stared at Tang N with a complicated expression, and after a moment, he spoke.

"You’re asking me what’s going on? What the hell is wrong with you! What did you do out there?"

Tang Two’s pitch kept rising. He glared at Tang N, rage surging, while Tang N merely glanced at Tang Two, then looked around him.

It was still that familiar World of the Heart’s Image, the sky blue, the air fresh. But the difference was that Tang One, Tang Two, and all the Tang Haofeis who’d appeared after Tang N were standing opposite Tang N, all wearing vicious looks, all staring him down.

Tang N still had no idea what was going on—he was just confused.

"What happened? And you guys, what is this...?"

In response to Tang N’s question, all the Tang Haofeis stayed silent. That silence lasted for about three minutes, until the one named Tang Big Fool, Tang N+1, turned his head to look at Tang One.

It was like a signal. The others all shifted their gaze to the cage prepared for Tang One. Seeing this scene, Tang N slowly narrowed his eyes, while Tang One let out a sigh. He straightened up, gently pushed open the cage, stepped out, and stood opposite Tang N.

"That’s why I said, a dog can’t stop eating shit. I should’ve killed you sooner. And you, Tang Two—I’ve always respected you as my big brother. Can’t believe you’d pull something like this on me."

The more Tang N talked, the angrier he got, as if he couldn’t bear to imagine that his rear base had turned into such a mess. Tang Two only gave a bitter smile, and after a moment, Tang One finally spoke.

"What exactly did you do?"

"I didn’t..."

Tang N stopped halfway through his sentence. He just watched as Tang One slowly rolled up his sleeve, revealing a claw at the cuff, covered in scales...

...

The World of the Heart’s Image, nestled in Tang Haofei’s heart, was the highest manifestation of Tang Haofei’s "true self."

Any physical reaction would be fed back into the World of the Heart’s Image and applied to every Tang Haofei’s body—birth, aging, sickness, and death worked that way; changing species did too.

After the species shift, the external Tang Haofei, of course, showed almost no change—the magic crystals on his head had been forced back in by Tang Haofei through muscle Control. Even though he’d grown an extra organ, once the Crystal retracted, in outward appearance Tang Haofei was still that same Tang Haofei. Just like Wen Yu was still that same Wen Yu.

But the changes among the crowd inside the World of the Heart’s Image were nowhere near that simple...

Once Tang One rolled up his sleeve, Tang N was stunned and confused. He turned his head to look at the others, and only then did he notice the changes in them.

Tang Two’s hair texture had hardened, his messy short hair shining with a metallic-like luster. Tang Big Fool’s right index finger had grown longer, as if an extra bony growth had sprouted out...

Seeing this, Tang N went quiet.

"I found a way to break free from the Dominator’s Control—by turning my body into that of the Demon Tribe..."

Tang N stated it simply, but it sent Tang Two into a rage!

"Ours! That’s our body! You bastard, you went and did this without our permission..."

"Forget it... that’s not the important part anymore."

Tang One waved his hand, cutting off Tang Two’s fury.