Chapter 308: Chapter 308 Fragment Stripping (Seeking Subscription)
As the girl in the cultivation chamber slowly opened her eyes, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became tense. Mr. Mu instructed his subordinates to strictly carry out their duties and be on high alert while he quietly observed the development of the situation. Pei Yan looked at the girl in the bottle, who was staring at him with eyes devoid of the cleverness and intelligence she had when they first met, filled instead with confusion and bewilderment. He couldn’t figure out if she was acting or if something had been done to her body. After her gaze lingered back and forth between the Pei Family siblings for a long time, as if suddenly remembering something, her dull eyes turned sharp and fierce, glaring viciously at Mr. Mu and the others standing not far away. As she regained her consciousness, Pei Yan felt the original energy in him become restless. This feeling was familiar, reminiscent of the state he was in the first time his consciousness left his body, and this time it was even stronger. While desperately suppressing the rampaging original energy within him, he managed to turn his head with difficulty to look at his sister beside him and found her in the same condition, clutching her chest, leaning on the bottle, and kneeling on one knee with difficulty breathing. At this moment, the girl in the cultivation chamber spread her arms and clenched her hands, the liquid in the bottle began to boil, and the splashes crashed incessantly against the bottle with loud bangs. Seeing this, Mr. Mu, who had long been prepared, waved his hand, and eight black-robed men took their positions at the operation desk in the hall, pressing their hands down. As continuous internal energy poured into the cultivation bottle, those long tubes engraved with runes inserted into the girl’s body, along with the bottle, emitted gentle rays of light. The Origin Maiden, who had been in a rampaging state, began to have a blurred look in her eyes with the sudden emergence of the light, and soon her arms went limp, her furious eyes gradually closed, and she once again fell into a slumber. "It seems we’ve really found the right person. She has never had this strong a reaction when facing other original energy holders before." Mr. Mu walked to the siblings, helped Pei Jin up, and said to Pei Yan with a smile. Pei Yan did not respond but turned to look at the two foreigners behind, who also held fragments of the original energy. If he and his sister’s actions earlier were merely embarrassing, then these two were utterly disgraced, collapsing almost simultaneously and convulsing uncontrollably when the Origin Maiden rampaged. Looking back at the girl in the cultivation chamber, her eyes closed in pain, complicated feelings welled up in Pei Yan’s heart; he knew that most of his current abilities were thanks to her. Although she had saved them in the abandoned factory to free herself, it was still a life-saving grace. Deep down, he felt indebted to her. Logically, saving her and repaying her was the right thing to do. But for some reason, Pei Yan felt an innate fear and guardedness towards this woman, not only because she could easily control his abilities but also because he just couldn’t see through her, inexplicably feeling she was dangerous, without knowing why. Shaking his head to clear his scattered thoughts, Pei Yan sighed and casually asked, "What exactly did you bring us here for?" Mr. Mu, hearing this, smiled and explained the entire process of stripping the original energy fragment from start to finish to the siblings, concluding, "The specific operational procedures and the transportation work are largely the same; you just need to continuously output your original energy to help suppress the seal of the original energy body. The stripping process will be completed by others." After listening to Mr. Mu’s explanation, Pei Yan and his sister exchanged glances and nodded in tacit agreement. Then they were taken to their designated operation desks and placed their hands on the surface according to their prior assignment. Once everyone was in place, Mr. Mu commanded from the center, and the stripping work officially began. With the interchanging input of original and internal energy, soft white and azure lights flickered incessantly on the cultivation bottle. The Origin Maiden’s previously dull expression turned twisted and fierce; she attempted several times to open her eyes and rampage, only to be suppressed back by the sealing array inputs repeatedly. As time passed, after initially subduing the Origin Maiden, Pei Yan saw large groups of staff pouring into the hall, first setting up ladders in front of the cultivation bottle and carefully removing the cover from the top of the bottle, then pushing in a device with mechanical arms. Under the control of the staff, three mechanical arms slowly probed into the cultivation bottle. One of the mechanical arms first extended its probe to scan the girl’s entire body, then transmitted the images back to the screen on the control desk. After a while, Mr. Mu, who was intently staring at the screen, seemed to make a decision, pointed and gave instructions to the operating personnel to continue working. The next scene was difficult for even Pei Yan to bear; a mechanical arm slowly cut open the girl’s long-soaked, pale, and wrinkled skin, but as the wound expanded, not a single drop of blood flowed out, making Pei Yan doubt whether the girl in the bottle was still even human. Soon, a more shocking scene appeared; as the mechanical arm made deeper incisions on her abdomen, it revealed the inner view of the girl’s body. There were no human organs present, and in Pei Yan’s mechanical eye’s magnified observation, the sight within momentarily mesmerized him, with its streaming brilliance resembling a star-studded night sky, dazzling his eyes. Just as Pei Yan was momentarily lost, another mechanical arm engraved with runes swiftly probed into the girl’s body, causing sparks to explode within the bottle, startling Pei Yan back to his senses; this forceful intrusion evidently triggered intense resistance from the girl, her body shaking more violently, seemingly on the verge of waking up again. "Increase energy output!" Mr. Mu commanded loudly while signaling to those at the scene; several black-robed individuals quickly stepped forward, pulled out numerous talismans, and repeatedly attached them to the bottle while chanting. Through this series of operations, the Origin Maiden’s irritable emotions were suppressed once again, and the probe that had intruded finally extracted a piece of a marginally raised fragment from her body. After completing this task, the mechanical arm withdrew with the fragment, and the surrounding staff hurriedly stepped up to reseal the bottle. Pei Yan watched as the wound on the Origin Maiden’s abdomen healed almost instantly upon fragment extraction, yet she appeared noticeably weaker and more haggard than before, falling into a slumber under the layered sealings. "Alright! Thank you for everyone’s cooperation, I declare the fragment-stripping mission a complete success." With Mr. Mu excitedly addressing the group, holding the original energy fragment in his hand, everyone relaxed. Pei Yan also removed his hand from the control desk, turned to Pei Jin, only to find her with one hand clenched into a fist, biting her lip, her gaze complexly fixed on the girl inside the cultivation bottle. Pain? Anger? Compassion? Pei Yan couldn’t discern what exactly his older sister felt, but he could certainly tell she was very upset.