Chapter 27: The Limits

Lin Lei’s expression shifted subtly as he stared at Long Wentian. At the same time, his face twisted and changed, transforming in the blink of an eye. Long Wentian’s hazy eyes suddenly sharpened, a flash of astonishment crossing them before quickly turning into apprehension. He twisted his head and staggered unsteadily toward the window.

Unfortunately, his injuries had not fully healed; his movements were stiff and slow.

Lin Lei surged forward with lightning speed, grabbing Long Wentian’s neck with a grip as deft as catching a chick, pulling him back and knocking him down with a single punch.

“Could this guy really be immortal?”

A faint glimmer flickered in Lin Lei’s eyes. “If that’s the case…”

He instantly entered his Demon Form. Targeting Long Wentian’s head, he stomped down fiercely.

In an instant—

*Boom!*

Like a bursting watermelon, Long Wentian’s skull shattered into pieces, red and white fluids mixing and scattering across the floor.

Yet, even as Long Wentian’s head exploded, Lin Lei noticed the source energy radiating from his body hadn’t ceased. His abilities were still active.

At this moment, even Chen Fan’s eyes flickered in disbelief. No matter how potent normal regenerative powers are, it’s unheard of for them to function after death! Once the head is destroyed, even high-level source energy users cannot survive!

Lin Lei stood silently, watching Long Wentian’s corpse.

As time passed, within the bathroom, the blood and flesh some distance away from Long Wentian’s body slowly began to converge toward his main body. The movement was extremely slow; without Lin Lei’s careful observation, it might have gone unnoticed.

Along with the gathering flesh, Long Wentian’s skull gradually began to reassemble. The process was painstakingly slow, far slower than the speed at which his palm had regenerated earlier.

Raising an eyebrow, Lin Lei stepped forward, gathering the approaching flesh together, then produced his Phantom Flame lighter. With a sharp click, he ignited it.

Watching the flesh burn away to nothing but ash, no trace remained. He then looked up at the rest of the corpse.

The source energy fluctuations emanating from Long Wentian’s body had yet to dissipate.

As time went on, small flesh buds sprouted at the gap where his neck should have been. Without the scattered head flesh to draw upon, his method of regeneration shifted to direct creation.

“This is absurd!” Lin Lei was utterly shocked. At this rate, did it mean he would never be able to kill Long Wentian?

He raised an eyebrow and stepped forward, this time attempting to activate his “Devour” ability.

He tried to invoke “Plunder” but found he couldn’t steal anything.

“My Devour energy has cost me several hundred units, but I still have over seventeen hundred left…” Lin Lei shook his head.

“Plundering” a living being consumes far more Devour energy than plundering a corpse—usually at least ten times more.

As for the basic “Feeding,” it was also ineffective. Aside from simple creatures like ants and insects, where he could expend a tiny amount of Devour energy to feed, he couldn’t activate “Feeding” on living anomalies or source energy users.

“In other words, if I can’t kill Long Wentian, I can’t ‘Plunder’ him at all…”

Lin Lei’s expression was complicated.

He had thought he had plenty of Devour energy, but now it seemed insufficient.

He licked his lips.

“If it weren’t for this guy’s ability emitting such strong source energy fluctuations, no one would even notice he wasn’t dead…”

To plunder a dead second-rank demon ghost requires just over forty units of Devour energy. Even multiplying that by ten only reaches about four hundred units.

Long Wentian is a second-tier being at the second realm, so the cost is at least four times that of a second-rank demon ghost—and that’s just the minimum. In reality, the gap is likely much larger.

It went without saying that Lin Lei could guess Long Wentian’s blessing rank must be no lower than A.

“At least A-rank, right?”

Lin Lei licked his lips again.

If he could plunder Long Wentian’s abilities, he would only grow stronger.

After all, he had the Nightwalker ability, which could even conceal his source energy fluctuations. Combined, unless someone like Zhou Wei—a special source energy user—was observing, no ordinary person would detect him.

Still, Lin Lei felt a deep sense of frustration. If Long Wentian was truly immortal, how was he supposed to kill him?

“Do I have to wait until I accumulate more Devour energy before coming back to ‘Plunder’ him?”

Although this was an option, Lin Lei didn’t know when he would have enough energy.

If he were short by only a few hundred units, it would be manageable. But if the deficit was greater, where could he gather so much Devour energy?

Even if he managed to accumulate it, Lin Lei might hesitate to expend so much.

A tenfold increase in consumption was no joke; he wasn’t sure how many things he could “Plunder” with that.

“There must be a way. I refuse to believe this guy can truly live forever…”

After all, Long Wentian was only second realm; his strength had to have limits.

…

In the following time, Lin Lei conducted various tests and gained a deeper understanding of Long Wentian’s abilities.

His power was not mere simple flesh regeneration.

Even if Lin Lei broke his bones, Long Wentian could recover in no time.

If his flesh or limbs were missing, as long as the flesh was nearby, it would slowly move toward the body and heal the wound. If the missing flesh was too far away or had been destroyed—such as by the Phantom Flame—it would generate new flesh or limbs.

Lin Lei even tried separating Long Wentian’s upper and lower body at a considerable distance, but found that they could not each regenerate independently.

The lower body lost its vitality and regenerative ability, becoming ordinary flesh tainted with source energy.

The upper body, however, would continue to spread and generate a new lower half.

The catch was that the regeneration speed for the new lower body slowed drastically.

Lin Lei suspected this was due to the decrease in total source energy within Long Wentian’s body, forcing him to rely on ambient source energy in the air to fuel regeneration.

“Energy is conserved. His regenerative effect isn’t conjured from nothing—it ultimately depends on source energy. If his source energy is completely depleted or he’s in a space devoid of source energy, his ability would be useless.”

Afterward, Lin Lei performed one final experiment.

He ground Long Wentian’s body into minced meat, scattering it.

This time, the flesh did not regenerate.

“Is this the limit of Long Wentian’s power...?”

While he could regenerate missing limbs, if the flesh was torn apart too much, it was impossible.

Upon this realization, Lin Lei felt somewhat disappointed.

“After all, Long Wentian is just second realm…”

Even with immortality, it must come with restrictions.