With the Saintess and the beasts gone, Lin Mu decided to take a look at the tiny bird.
The Snow Stream Sparrow had been sleeping ever since Lin Mu gave it the Beast Qi, and as such, he could only observe what was happening in its body.
On the surface, there didn't seem to be much of a change, but on the inside, Lin Mu felt that its blood was flowing rapidly. Not just that, but each and every cell of the Snow Stream Sparrow was bursting with vitality.
The traces of the Beast Qi were almost gone, having been absorbed almost entirely by the bird.
It had been several hours since Lin Mu had given the bird Beast Qi, as such, it was a bit surprising.
'Even Little Shrubby took longer to absorb it back then.' Lin Mu recalled.
For a small bird beast like the Snow Stream Sparrow to absorb all of it like that in less than a day was quite astounding. It once again reinforced for Lin Mu that the beast was indeed a bit special. Though he had no idea, that the kind of 'special' he was thinking about was not right.
The Tiny bird's internals first became stronger, while the exterior stayed the same. And when it felt the internal changes had stabilized, the external changes finally happened.
"Huh? It's shedding its feathers?" Lin Mu saw the feathers of the bird start to fall.
Only a couple of its feathers fell at the start, but as minutes went by, the rate of the feathers falling also increased.
In just an hour, the entire bird had become bald naked!
"What the… will it be fine?" Lin Mu was surprised by this change.
After all, the Snow Stream Sparrow losing its feathers did not seem like a good thing.
Unfortunately this was just the start of the changes. Soon, the beak of the bird also turned dull. From its scarlet red color, it became a dull brown and continued to change until finally it had become a crude dark brown color. Content © 2024.
~crack~crack~crack~
Cracks also spread on the beak, turning it rather fragile looking.
"That does not seem good…" Lin Mu furrowed his brows.
He wondered if he needed to interfere here but hesitated. He checked the internal condition of the bird again, and discovered that it seemed to have full of vitality even now.
The outside and inside conditions contrasted greatly.
From the outside the Snow Stream Sparrow looked like a sick beast afflicted with cancer. But on the inside, the beast was full of vitality as if it were in the peak of its health.
'I need to observe it more.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
He let his Immortal sense split up further into smaller tendrils and tried to look for the bloodline of the tiny Snow Stream Sparrow directly.
~HUM~
Lin Mu also chanted the calming heart Sutra to raise his sensitivity, knowing that he was going to need it. Unlike the Saintess, he did not have an expert sense of bloodlines.
She could directly go to the source of the bloodline, while Lin Mu needed to make it out through an indirect method.
It took Lin Mu half an hour, before he finally sensed the bloodline of the Snow Stream Sparrow.
'This should be its bloodline Aura…' Lin Mu didn't see the muddied pool of bloodline like the Saintess. Instead he only sensed the aura that was present deep within the bird's body.
The aura was not uniform, instead having a mixed composition. 'The major part is that of the Snow Stream Sparrow bloodline, while the rest should be the impurities that the Saintess was talking about.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
He watched as the bloodline auras grew with time.
But much to his surprise it was not the Snow Stream Sparrow Bloodline that was growing, instead it was the impurities that were growing.
'Wait… why is the main bloodline not growing?' Lin Mu was surprised.
Normally speaking, since the rest of the bloodlines that were considered as impurities were inferior, they should not have been affected by the Beast Qi as much. Instead it should have been the main bloodlines that took advantage of it and grew.
That way, the Snow Stream Sparrow would grow its natural abilities that were granted to it by the bloodline. Growth in its bloodline would strengthen its cultivation base and improve its potential.
But what was happening here was entirely opposite.
It was the impurities that were growing instead.
One could compare it to a disease. Instead of letting the nutrients from food nourishing the body and its organs, they were nourishing the cancerous tissues present in it.
It was against the norm and could be very dangerous to the beast.
"This does not look good." Lin Mu furrowed his brows.
He didn't know how to stop it as it had already been too late. The Beast Qi had been absorbed by the tiny bird and all the changes that were happening now were uncontrollable.
It was an arrow that had already been shot. Now there was no way for it to return.
"Ugh…" Lin Mu was forced to watch as the impurities in the Snow Stream Sparrow's bloodline kept on increasing.
If before the impurities were at a 40% mark while the Snow Stream Sparrow Bloodline was at the 60% mark, now the impurities had increased to 45%!
It was the opposite of what one would want and Lin Mu wondered if the bird would be harmed by it.
And as he continued to observe the bird, he noticed that the vitality of the bird was still stable. The same could be said for its cultivation base too, which hadn't changed at all.
"Huh… it's actually fine?" Lin Mu was baffled by this strange condition.
The bird still looked very sick from the outside too.
Its naked skin also looked a bit dull now, taking on a paler complexion instead of the normal and healthy pink.
There were no new feathers growing at this point either, and the flesh was left bare.
More time passed, and Lin Mu saw that the skin of the bird had become wrinkly and dry too. Eventually it too became cracked, as if a lot of moisture from it had been sucked out.
The cracks spread from the base of the tiny bird's beak and covered its head before finally spreading all over its body.
If it were not for the vitality within the tiny bird's body, Lin Mu would have been sure it was at the death's door.
The level of impurities in its bloodline had also increased and reached the 48% mark.
And it didn't stop there either, it continued to increase until it was 50% of the beast's bloodline!
"It actually reached this point…" Lin Mu was at a loss for words.
~crack~crack~crack
But it was now that the beak of the bird started to tremble.
~CHIRP~
It let out a cry as its beak opened.
~CRUMBLE~
Lin Mu then watched as the fragments from the bird's beak fell. It had been cracked for a while now, and now the cracked portions were falling off.
"This…" And once all the fragments from its surface fell of, Lin Mu could see a dark Grey beak underneath it.
It was smooth and sleek, but its color was completely unlike its original.
'It was already different from a normal Snow Stream Sparrow with its red beak, and now it has changed even more.' Lin Mu raised his brows in surprise.
He wondered what more changes would happen and didn't have to wait long. Soon after, the skin of the tiny Snow Stream Sparrow also trembled, as the cracked portions started to fall off. The pale skin was replaced with an ashy black skin now. It did not look like the normal flesh, but it was at least healthy from what Lin Mu could tell due to the presence of blood vessels underneath it.
The blood was flowing perfectly and the skin was also soft, with a slight sheen to it. It was clear that new skin had grown to replace the old one.
A similar thing happened to the bird's legs too, as they became ash Grey just like the skin of the bird with a layer of skin sloughing off.
And when this was completed, Lin Mu could tell that the claws of the bird had also become sharper. The size of the bird hadn't changed though, staying the same. It was only the appearance and aura that had been transformed.
"There's no way to even tell it is a Snow Stream Sparrow now." Lin Mu muttered.
Lin Mu checked the bloodline of the bird again and saw that it had progressed beyond 50% hitting the 51% mark and gaining majority in the bloodline.
"It's not even correct to call it a Snow Stream Sparrow now… that bloodline is no longer the dominant one." Lin Mu understood.
Having watched the changes from start to the end, he quickly came to the conclusion that the impurities in its bloodline were behind the change.