Turns Out, I’m In A Villain Clan! Chapter 470 Experiments with Sun Dao Fragments
Previously on Turns Out, I’m In A Villain Clan!...
"Argh! Argh!"
"P-Please, just kill me!"
"Why are you doing this to me? Ahhh..."
A piercing cry rang out along the rocky passageways.
It bounced off the walls etched with fierce sun patterns, surging and fading like a fading spark fighting the breeze.
Then-
Silence!
Thud!
The sharp tang of blood filled the atmosphere more densely.
Within the hidden chamber below ground, a ritual formation throbbed with intense golden radiance.
Sun-like runes spun lazily in the air, each marked with old symbols that emitted blazing warmth.
At the heart-
A form twisted in agony.
Skin splitting open.
Veins swelling dark under a layer shining like heated metal.
Golden fires burst from inside the body, scorching everything outward.
The shape bent sharply once-
Then fell limp.
Burned to cinders.
Lifeless!
The golden symbols faded.
The room grew still, save for the soft buzz of the formation's lines as they cooled down.
A figure lingered close by, arms clasped behind him.
His garments bore a shining sun emblem—strands of gold that gleamed even in the low light of the chamber.
His face stayed unchanged.
Not from the cry.
Not from the end.
Just his gaze shifted—icy, probing.
"Another failure."
His words came even.
Almost weary.
A follower positioned a few paces back bowed his head even lower right away.
"My apologies, Elder."
The figure brushed aside the words.
He moved ahead, kneeling by the remains. Two fingers reached out, gently pressing the scorched torso.
A wisp of spiritual sense flowed into the body.
He inspected the meridians.
The dantian.
The broken spiritual channels.
"Compatibility ratio... twenty-three percent."
He whispered to himself.
"Improved from the last group. Yet still not enough."
He rose gradually.
The golden formation sparked anew as he drew a tiny piece from the corpse's damaged dantian.
A chip no bigger than a nail clipping.
It shone dimly—
Like a waning star.
The Sun Dao Fragment.
He tsked in annoyance.
"The human frame proves too weak. One tiny error, and they perish."
His sight wandered to the distant wall of the chamber.
There—
Metal enclosures stretched along the side.
A few vacant.
A few occupied.
Tiny fingers clutched the bars.
Eyes staring wide.
Shaking.
They served only as resources.
Nothing else.
"Fetch another specimen."
His voice held firm.
The follower acted without delay.
"Yes, Elder!"
He spun and signaled.
Two pupils hauled in a skinny young lad, shackles rattling over the rock ground.
The youth resisted feebly, tears tracing paths on grimy, dirt-smeared face.
"Please—please don't—!"
The Elder offered no reply.
His digits sketched a sign through the air.
The formation array ignited once again.
Golden brilliance engulfed the room.
Cries broke out anew.
The Elder's gaze tightened a bit—not from the pain—
But from how the Dao fragment reacted inside the youth's form.
The fragment throbbed wildly.
"Unstable. Excessive resistance."
The meridians started tearing right away.
"Hmm."
He watched with detached precision.
"No adaptation in structure. Instant breakdown. It appears the resources they supplied were poor grade."
The yells halted suddenly.
Smoke billowed up from the formation's core.
Yet another body.
Yet another lost fragment.
The Elder breathed out steadily.
Annoyance.
Not sorrow.
The Elder waved his sleeve casually.
Ashes flew over the formation's surface. "Fetch three more."
His manner stayed the same as earlier.
As though asking for extra ingredients in pill-making.
The follower tensed up.
Quiet lingered.
The Elder kept his back turned.
Yet the golden energy encircling him wavered slightly.
"Any issue?"
The follower knelt swiftly on one knee. "E-Elder... we don't have many remaining."
The room felt chillier.
Beyond the metal bars, a handful of youngsters pulled back on instinct.
The Elder gradually swiveled his head.
"Tsk! Supplies keep dropping."
He faced his follower.
"The previous delivery gave just three successes."
His voice edged sharper a touch.
"That's intolerable." The follower gulped.
"Well, folks are getting warier, and grabbing materials has grown tougher—particularly the top-tier ones."
The Elder's stare grew frosty.
"Damn! If the conflict with the Demonic Forces had dragged on, we'd have gathered way more resources without hassle."
He paced leisurely in front of the formation array, golden glow bouncing off the smooth stone surface.
In the war's peak, whole towns vanished in a night. Hamlets reduced to rubble. Traveler groups erased without sign. Probes proved futile.
The Imperial Family's troops focused on the battle lines, while major houses drained their top talents.
No chance to chase the lost, no notice for the kids who vanished, the rogue cultivators who didn't come back, the full migrant bands that just disappeared.
Chaos devoured them all, their ends overlooked amid bigger calamities.
Records noted, doubts voiced, but the fight claimed every skilled soul.
Masters couldn't spare for hunting the gone. Those marked the Elder's prime era. Turmoil granted liberty.
Full loads traveled unchecked. Even whispers of trouble got waved off as war's side effects, mere whispers in wartime din.
It formed ideal shelter for unchecked tests, free of watch, free of bounds.
Dozens of attempts wrapped up, hit rates rose bit by bit, method honing sped by zero meddling.
Now, peace reigned. Demonic Forces pulled back, borders held firm, forces headed back.
Leaders and sects, clear of direct dangers, looked inside.
The Imperial Family launched checks within, small smuggling rings exposed and crushed, oversight ramped up everywhere. The liberty for boundless trials had slipped away. Sourcing paths shrank, went sideways, stayed wary.
Resources grew rare, lesser in caliber, and poor stock meant poor matches. Trials halted.
The Elder's vexation bubbled under, golden qi flickering softly around him.
"Widen the gathering range. Doesn't matter if they're ordinary folk or cultivators—haul in all we can." His tone dipped a notch.
"If we hold off too much, the Sect Leader will grow unhappy."
The follower bent low in respect. "Yes, Elder!"
The golden shine waned once more.
The Elder glanced again at the fading light of the Sun Dao fragment in his grasp.
"So many failures..."
His mouth twitched slightly.
"Yet the success rate inches up. When we hit over fifty percent..."
The fragment gleamed a little brighter to his spiritual qi.
"...we'll dominate this realm!"
He clenched his fist.
The fragment disappeared.
"Depart."
His voice slid back to cool detachment.
"Resupply!"