Chapter Seventy-two: Discovery!

The clouds parted and the thunder faded, and the weather gradually improved. Sunlight began to pour over the mountainside. Yet to Ma Yi's surprise, the air seemed to grow colder. As he ate, he gazed down the mountain. What was once a mere few hundred meters to the base now stretched several times farther.

“Never mind for now. Best to fill my stomach first,” Ma Yi thought to himself, his hands and mouth working in tandem.

Iron Pillar and Erha, weary, sat beside Ma Yi, watching as he devoured his meal. The two had worked hard to gather enough food for him and had watched as Ma Yi’s body transformed from skeletal thinness to fullness. The frailty had vanished, replaced by formidable strength—an outcome of consuming hundreds of tons of food.

It sounded like an enormous amount, but in reality it amounted to just over two hundred mutant abalone, plus countless crabs. Fortunately, Ma Yi ate the crabs shell and all, crushing them with his teeth. Otherwise, Iron Pillar and Erha would have needed to spend several more hours scavenging for food.

Everything that entered his belly seemed to be digested in an instant, every usable molecule absorbed and converted to the energy his cells so desperately needed.

Crab shells, rich in calcium and other elements, were only shunned by humans for their poor taste. But to one starving, taste was no concern—anything edible was a blessing.

“Why do I feel a tingling sensation?” Iron Pillar asked Erha with a puzzled frown.

“There’s definitely a tingle. I noticed it earlier. Now it’s much stronger,” both of Erha’s heads chimed in. Suddenly, the two turned to look at Ma Yi, and at the sight, they bolted, putting at least a hundred meters between themselves and him.

Ma Yi was now utterly sated. His enormous body shone obsidian black, the old web-like markings gone, replaced by a uniform jet darkness—except for his glowing eyes. Yet it was not these changes that frightened Iron Pillar and Erha, but the arcs of electricity that danced ceaselessly between Ma Yi’s arms, across his back, and behind his twin horns. The arcs flowed and trembled like ribbons of silk.

“Seeing electricity now terrifies me. Thinking back to being struck by lightning was pure agony,” Iron Pillar muttered, glancing at Ma Yi with lingering fear. The arcs leaping from Ma Yi now were no less fierce than the lightning that had once struck them.

“I’m scared too. But at least my resistance has improved. I’ve got some electricity myself, though it’s nothing compared to the boss.” Erha lifted one massive hand. Between his five fingers, a small, thin arc crackled and leapt.

“I think I have some too, but…this is pathetic,” Iron Pillar said, stretching out his hand. He summoned all his strength, but only a faint spark flickered between his fingers. If Ma Yi’s electric arcs were a roaring Yellow River, Erha’s were at best a flowing brook, and Iron Pillar’s were but raindrops dripping from an eaves—hardly worth comparing.

Iron Pillar glanced at Erha’s electric arc, a trace of envy on his face. The boss had spoken of potential, but now that seemed little comfort. He wouldn’t dare compare himself to Ma Yi—that one was a freak, far beyond the norm. To measure himself against Ma Yi would only deepen his sense of inferiority.

“At last, I’m full,” Ma Yi said, stretching. His bones rumbled like muffled thunder, and the arcs behind him surged with a thunderous roar. At ten meters tall, Ma Yi now resembled a colossal machine; each step gouged deep pits in the stone, and that was with him treading carefully. By a conservative estimate, he now weighed at least several dozen tons. You might ask why, after eating hundreds of tons, he weighed only a few dozen—most of it had been transformed into another form: energy.

As his mood relaxed, Ma Yi began to restrain his aura. The thick arcs shrank, then seeped into his body. He could now feel every cell behaving like a miniature nuclear reactor, providing boundless energy for battle. Of course, after battle, the depletion would leave him ravenous again, requiring yet another feast. But his endurance was now monstrous.

Each cell, under his conscious control, gradually powered down. His corpse-king form faded, leaving only his human shape. Even with his cells dormant, Ma Yi was several times stronger than before. In an instant, he could activate thirty percent of his cells in human form; at most, he could mobilize half, and that was more than enough. Even with thirty percent, his energy outstripped what he’d had at his most fearsome, fully transformed. Now he understood why so many movie heroes had to gorge themselves after fierce battles. He could now sense his own reserves precisely, like a phone's battery indicator.

Before, Ma Yi simply fought, felt hungry, and ate, never understanding why. Now he knew and could feel the energy stored in every cell, allowing him complete mastery over his body. Without transforming or burning energy, he was as invulnerable as the heroes of legend—his cells not only stored immense energy but were denser, harder, like the difference between paper and diamond. The same volume, yet diamond's weight and resilience far surpassed a paper ball.

Stronger cells meant stronger organs—muscle, skin, everything. Ma Yi could confidently stand still and let a heavy machine gun fire at him, certain it would leave not the faintest mark. Even before, at his terror level, he could do so, though he’d lacked the courage. Now, he was even bolder.

“Every transformation costs me a set of clothes. I need to find some evolved beast hide—something elastic and stretchable—to make myself a suit,” Ma Yi mused, looking at his state and then at the two lurking in the distance, beckoning them over.

“Boss, you’re yourself again! That’s wonderful!” Iron Pillar ran up, eager as a loyal hound.

“Disgusting.” “Shameless.” Erha, after spending so much time with Iron Pillar, had developed a bit of personality himself. But seeing Iron Pillar fawning so, even Erha felt his hackles rise, and he trotted over as well.

“Boss, you’re finally back! I was so worried!” “Yeah, I was afraid you hadn’t eaten enough—I was about to go get you more,” Erha said, dropping to one knee, looking at Ma Yi with a fawning grin. He was no better than Iron Pillar.

“What is this?” Ma Yi looked at the two, both kneeling yet still towering three meters above him, and felt his own skin crawl.

“Change back, both of you. You’re too tall—I get a neck ache looking up at you,” Ma Yi said calmly.

“Sure thing, boss,” Iron Pillar replied promptly, shrinking down. Erha followed suit, reducing his size as well.

Yet even shrunken, Iron Pillar stood a head taller than Ma Yi at two meters, while Erha, at a solid one meter eighty, looked robust enough.

“Am I destined to be the shortest man in this world?” Ma Yi thought with resignation.

He ignored the two giants and walked ahead, now having to tread with utmost care. One careless step could pulverize solid rock beneath his feet. The three of them made their slow, meandering way down the mountain, Ma Yi inadvertently shattering rocks with every few steps.

Iron Pillar and Erha had less trouble; as long as they were careful, their weight wasn’t an issue. They could crush rock if they tried, but Ma Yi, even being cautious, still did so by mistake—his weight now truly fearsome.

Ma Yi could fly, but he had his reasons for walking. What about when he slept? Or when he cuddled his beautiful wife? He was making a conscious effort to adapt to his new weight, to avoid inconveniencing others. After just a few days of sleeping on a soft bed, he was once again faced with this awkward dilemma—even rock couldn’t bear him now. How many mattresses were made harder than rock? The thought was too depressing. Would he never again sleep on a proper human bed?

Step by step, the trio slowly descended the slope and reached the coast. But this shore was no longer what it once was. Strange corals had sprung up on the land—this place had once been underwater. The shifting plates had moved the deep sea to the shoreline.

“There’s someone over there!” Ma Yi, focused on his footing, hadn’t noticed, but Iron Pillar and Erha, far more alert, were curiously surveying the surroundings and immediately spotted something odd moving at the waterline in the distance.

“It’s one of those fishmen!” Ma Yi’s vision was far sharper than Iron Pillar’s; a single glance revealed that the figures frolicking in the distant water were the same fishmen they’d encountered on the mountainside. He was instantly galvanized, and in his excitement, his foot sank deep into the shattered stones.