Chapter 128: Plastic Surgery Followed by an Upgrade

Praise the Goddess of Life! I was far too careless. Cold sweat poured down Chu Tian's back, but his expression remained completely calm. He lifted his chin and said with disdain, "Bah! That damned priest looked down on me far too much. Do you really think only ancient sacrificial arts can heal Lucina?"

"Are you saying what you used just now wasn't an ancient sacrificial art?" Kevin blinked in astonishment.

"Let me ask you, have you ever witnessed a true ancient sacrificial art?" Chu Tian countered.

"No," Kevin shook his head. "Not just me, even the chief priest of the Holy See has never seen one with his own eyes."

"Well, there you have it!" Chu Tian began to spin his web of nonsense. "None of you have ever seen it, so how can you claim that what I used just now was an ancient sacrificial art?"

"Then what on earth was that..."

"What I used was the Ancient Thief's Art!" Chu Tian's talent for bluffing was now in full swing.

"The Ancient Thief's Art?" Kevin was dumbfounded. Even as an eighth-tier magical beast of vast experience, he had never heard of any such thing as the Ancient Thief's Art. Could the ancient gods have been thieves as well? Besides, what on earth did thievery have to do with healing?

"You saw my technique just now, didn't you?" Chu Tian produced his scalpel once more, spinning it nimbly around his fingers. "How did it look to you?"

"Incredible!" Kevin praised from the bottom of his heart.

Bolstered by the potent Dragon Emperor's blood, Chu Tian's speed and precision with the scalpel had reached an unfathomable realm. The sheer swiftness of his cuts and his flawless mastery of anatomical structure—forget about the Fantasy Beast Continent; even if he were back on Earth, no one could possibly surpass him. To quote a famous saying from Earth: doctors are also blade-masters.

"What if I were to use that exact same technique to kill someone?" Chu Tian asked abruptly.

Cold sweat trickled down Kevin's forehead. He had seen it with his own eyes just moments ago: in the blink of an eye, Chu Tian had sliced away a massive layer of muscle and seamlessly dismantled several bones, all without spilling a single drop of blood.

One stroke, no blood; a corpse carved into formless pieces. This was how the continent described the absolute pinnacle of the assassin profession—the God of Death! And now, he was associating those very words with Chu Tian...

Unaware that he had already been mistaken for a ninth-rank God of Death, Young Master Chu continued his swindle. "Praise the God of Death! The God of Death has said that when we thieves want someone to die, they cannot live! However, if the God of Death does not want a person's soul, then they have no right to die!" It had been quite a while since he last played the role of a charlatan, and Chu Tian was itching to go. Today, he had finally found an opportunity to exercise his innate talent as a mystic charlatan—though this time, he was using the name of the God of Death.

"What I used just now was the assassination technique within the Ancient Thief's Art. Not only can it kill, but it can also use the methods of killing to save a life!" Chu Tian was now completely immersed in his role. "To control human life and death—that is the profound mystery of the ancient thieves!"

Kevin was completely hoodwinked. "Oh... I never imagined Mr. Andy was the successor of the Ancient Thief's Art. I am truly overjoyed to become your friend."

"Praise the God of Death. Having a friend like you is an even greater joy." As he spoke, a look of melancholy crossed Chu Tian's face. "Alas! My own strength is far too weak. I am merely a low-level thief and cannot yet fully master the Ancient Thief's Art..."

"Ha-ha, it doesn't matter," Kevin comforted him. "There will come a day when you master it completely."

For a moment, Kevin felt immensely fortunate to have befriended a successor of the Ancient Thief's Art and a future ninth-rank God of Death.

At that moment, Lucina slowly regained consciousness, though he still looked somewhat dazed.

Seeing that his son had woken up, Kevin thanked Chu Tian once more. "Sir has truly done a massive favor for our West Coast Wolf Clan this time. I will reward you handsomely." With that, Kevin sighed with a hint of despondency. "Ah, as long as Lucina is healthy, nothing else matters..."

"Chief Kevin? Are you facing any other difficulties?" Chu Tian was in high spirits. With the support of the wolf clan, his journey back would become significantly easier. Hearing the implicit trouble in Kevin's tone, he asked casually, "Perhaps I can help you out!"

"It's useless. Ah, there's no harm in telling you!" Kevin sighed again and said, "I am one of the four great chieftains of the wolf clan, and Lucina is my only son, as well as my sole heir, but..."

"But what?"

"But the other three chieftains refuse to let Lucina inherit my position!"

"Is it because of how Lucina used to look?" Chu Tian chuckled. "Now that he's back to normal, he should be eligible to inherit your position, shouldn't he?"

"Still no." Kevin lowered his head and shook it. "It's not just his appearance. Not only does Lucina look different from ordinary wolves, but he also failed to inherit my eighth-tier power; he is still only a seventh-tier magical beast."

Kevin continued, "If not for my eldest brother's protection, Lucina would have been drowned by the clan elders the moment he was born. Ah, but my eldest brother has no way to help Lucina break through his bottleneck. If this goes on, I fear our West Coast Wolf Clan will be carved up by the other wolf factions."

"Who is your eldest brother?" Chu Tian asked out of curiosity. Able to suppress the elders of three factions, this fellow was likely a heavyweight.

"My eldest brother is the demonic pet of the Beastkin Prophet, Rohn. By virtue of the Prophet Rohn's status, my brother's standing within the clan is second only to His Majesty the Wolf King." Kevin replied.

So he was the pet of that old charlatan! Chu Tian cursed inwardly. Young Master Chu still harbored lingering fears regarding Rohn, because Rohn's charlatan skills were far superior to his own.

Suddenly, a thought struck Chu Tian. Kevin had mentioned that the crystal stone which fell out during the surgery was the source of a magical beast's power, and Lucina should originally have had one crystal per head. That being the case...

"Chief Kevin, I believe I can help Lucina break through to the eighth tier!" Chu Tian narrowed his eyes. Young Master Chu's gambler's streak was flaring up again. The West Coast Wolf Clan was facing the threat of partition; if Chu Tian saved them, the rewards would undoubtedly be substantial.

"Impossible." Kevin hadn't quite registered what Chu Tian was saying and replied offhandedly, "Only the ancient gods could make a magical beast break through. Though, I've heard that His Highness Vladiru might also be able to do it... Wait! What did you say?"

Kevin widened his wolfish eyes and stared at Chu Tian in disbelief. "You... you really can?"

"I can give it a try!" Despite his modest words, Chu Tian's expression was brimming with absolute confidence—a necessary prerequisite for being a charlatan.

"Mr. Andy, if you pull this off," Kevin said with resolute determination, "I swear in the name of the Beast God that you shall forever be a friend of our West Coast Wolf Clan!"

"Ha-ha, we shall be friends forever!" Chu Tian pointed at the still-dazed Lucina. "Knock him out again! And hand me that crystal stone from earlier."

This time, Kevin did not hesitate at all. He handed the crystal to Chu Tian, and then with a flick of his tail, sent Lucina flying into unconsciousness.

This was going to be brain surgery, so even Chu Tian had to exercise utmost caution. Treating it like carving a delicate piece of art, he cracked open Lucina's skull and said to Kevin, "Block the entrance of the cave. Make sure no wind blows in."

Kevin crept on tiptoes to the cave entrance and used his massive body to block the draft. "Mr. Andy, is this good?"

"Good enough!"

This was Chu Tian's first time performing brain surgery on a magical beast, though the anatomical structure of the Fantasy Beast Continent's beasts was no different from Earth's animals. However, once Chu Tian opened up Lucina's skull, he discovered that his brain was not the semi-circular shape of a normal canine, but rather a ring. At the very center of this cerebral ring sat another green crystal, though it was significantly larger than the one in Chu Tian's hand.

The idea was sound, but once he actually started, Chu Tian felt a bit overwhelmed. He had only ever learned how to excise tumors and foreign objects from circular brains; he had never been taught how to shove an extra rock into someone's head.

Praise the Goddess of Life! I'll stake it all on this, Chu Tian hesitated for a moment before succumbing entirely to his gambler's nature. He reached in, extracted the crystal from inside Lucina's brain, fused the two crystals together using a few surgical threads and needles, and then casually dropped them back in.

It seemed the Goddess of Life truly favored Chu Tian. This time, his blind gamble had paid off yet again!

The moment the two fused crystals were placed back into Lucina's brain, a flash of emerald-green light burst forth, and the two stones merged completely into one!

"Aah—" The unconscious Lucina suddenly let out a earth-shattering shriek, and a blinding, dazzling emerald radiance erupted from his skull, piercing straight through the cave ceiling and shooting up into the sky!

Meanwhile, in the distant eastern expanse of the continent, Apache—who had been flying for over half a month in search of Chu Tian—grew visibly excited in mid-air as he spotted that faint green glow in the western sky.

Though the green light flashed and vanished, Apache was far too familiar with the phenomenon. Years ago, he had witnessed with his own eyes how Chu Tian used a similar brilliance to transform him into a high-tier magical beast.

Tapping the communicator by his ear, Apache shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hey! The Boss is in the west! Location unconfirmed! I'm heading over first. Boeing, bring the other beasts and catch up quickly!" With that, like a bolt of dark lightning, Apache's figure streaked across the firmament and vanished...

On Mount Agora, Dragon Emperor Aristoteles stood at the summit with his hands behind his back, gazing toward the west. He murmured to himself, "A magical beast breaking through? Vladiru, was this your doing once more?"

Gesturing toward the west, the Dragon Emperor commanded Elder Frodo, who stood respectfully behind him, with a majestic voice: "Go to the west and bring Vladiru back to me!"

In Scarlet Moon City, atop a giant sword dozens of meters high, a figure with flowing white hair stood proudly. Following the green flash, he too pointed toward the west and instructed Brown at the base of the sword: "I want to know what just happened."

"Yes!" Brown replied solemnly, then dissolved into the air.

In the Forbidden Sea, deep beneath ten thousand leagues of ocean, a robust warrior spoke to the back of a figure dozing upon a throne: "Your Majesty, I felt a powerful surge of divine power just now."

"Pay it no mind," the figure replied without the slightest movement. "It is merely a little magical beast breaking through."

"Your Majesty, there is one more matter. Dracula has arrived!" the warrior continued. "Though his strength seems vastly inferior to before."

"Leave Dracula to you," came a long sigh, heavy with helplessness and melancholy. "Ah, if only I had killed the Sea God back then... otherwise, there would be no one worthy of my blade today..."