90: Chapter 90 The Ruins of the Embryo: Genius or Madman?

Lin Fan put down his pen and briefly described the three gray-robed men he had encountered in the Secret Realm.

Of course, he hid the fact that he had seen them through his left eye.

He only said that he had accidentally caught a glimpse of their eyes, which did not look like human eyes, nor did they look like Armorization... it was as if they had sewn on the eyes of some animal or Armor Beast.

President Ye Wenyuan's hand, which was turning the book, stopped immediately upon hearing this, and his expression became extremely grim.

Lin Fan sensed that the atmosphere was off and asked cautiously, "Master, what is wrong?"

President Ye Wenyuan closed the book; Lin Fan had never seen him look so serious.

"What you encountered were people from the Ruins Embryo Society."

Lin Fan was stunned for a moment. "Ruins Embryo Society?"

President Ye Wenyuan turned around, looking at him with deep eyes.

There was no usual gentleness in those eyes, only a gravity Lin Fan had never seen before.

"They are the most dangerous existence in the entire Beast Armor Master world."

He leaned against the edge of the table, arms crossed.

"Do you know where the power of a Beast Armor Master comes from?"

Lin Fan thought for a moment. "Contracting an Armor Spirit, Armorization for battle."

"Correct. Beast Armor Master and Armor Spirit coexist; humans protect the Spirit as it grows, and the Armor Spirit becomes armor to protect the human. This is an unshakable truth for thousands of years."

President Ye Wenyuan's voice became low.

"But the Ruins Embryo Society does not believe this. They have a completely opposite philosophy—Transcendence."

He paused, seemingly weighing his words.

"They believe that Armor Spirits are external objects independent of humans; no matter how intimate, there is ultimately a layer between them. True strength must come from the evolution of the life Origin. Armor Spirits are merely catalysts, nutrients used to stimulate human transformation."

Lin Fan frowned. "Nutrients?"

"They directly transplant or perform Fusion of the Armor Beast's flesh, organs, and abilities into their own bodies. It is not a contract, it is not Armorization, it is..."

President Ye Wenyuan tapped his fingers on the table twice, as if looking for the right word.

"It is grafting. Cutting off the Armor Beast's organs and sewing them onto oneself."

Lin Fan's pupils constricted slightly.

"Those people's eyes, arms, were not Armorization?"

He asked, his voice a bit dry.

"No. That was really growing on their bodies."

President Ye Wenyuan's voice carried a trace of disgust.

"They capture powerful Armor Beasts alive and use surgery to transplant specific parts of the Armor Beast onto themselves. If they succeed, they can gain the abilities of that Armor Beast. If they fail..."

He did not continue, but Lin Fan already understood.

He thought of the person being carried on someone's back, thought of that indescribable feeling that made his spine chill.

"Did those people... succeed?"

President Ye Wenyuan shook his head.

"Only a few succeed. Most will have violent rejection reactions; the mild ones become deformed, the severe ones are devoured by the remnant will of the Armor Beast, losing their sanity completely, turning into monsters with only instincts. They call those failures 'Lost-Heart Ones'."

Lin Fan was silent for a long time.

"Why do they do this? Pursuing power?"

President Ye Wenyuan did not answer immediately.

He walked to the window, pushed it open, and let the wind blow in.

"Because they are crazy."

He finally said, his voice very light, as if talking to himself, "Or maybe because they are afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

President Ye Wenyuan did not answer this question. He turned around and looked at Lin Fan.

"You met them in the Secret Realm; did they do anything to you?"

Lin Fan shook his head.

"No. I felt something was fishy about them, so I played dumb and fooled them."

President Ye Wenyuan was silent for a moment, as if thinking about something.

Then he walked back to the table, took a thin booklet out of the drawer, and handed it to Lin Fan.

The cover of the booklet had no words, the paper was yellowed, and the edges were a bit worn, obviously quite old.

"Take it back and read it. Burn it after you finish."

Lin Fan took the booklet and opened the first page. A few lines of neat regular script were written on it.

"Mortal bodies and rotten bones, how can they carry great power? Only by breaking and then establishing, transforming into a Ruins Embryo, can one see the true self."

President Ye Wenyuan stared at that line of words and said slowly.

"The founder of the Ruins Embryo Society was once a legend in the Beast Armor Master world. His Aptitude as a Beast Armor Master was very poor; like you, he only had two armor apertures."

Lin Fan was stunned. Two armor apertures? Like him?

"But his research on the cultivation of Armor Spirits and Armor Beasts was exceptionally excellent, one could even say he was peerlessly talented, unique in history."

President Ye Wenyuan's voice carried a complex emotion.

"His talent in the Breeder field was far beyond all the Great Masters at that time. He could design evolutionary plans that were better than all existing routes. If he had been content to be a Breeder for his whole life, his name would have been engraved in history and revered by future generations."

"But he was not reconciled."

President Ye Wenyuan walked to the window, back to Lin Fan, his voice becoming low.

"Not reconciled to watching those with mediocre Aptitude, just because they were lucky and had many armor apertures, gain stronger power than him. He began to think—if Heaven did not give him a path, he would carve one out himself."

Lin Fan listened quietly.

"At first, he only studied how to strengthen the physical body."

"Soaking in Spirit Medicine, nourishing with Spirit power, tempering muscles and bones with various Heaven And Earth Treasures. He treated himself as an experimental subject, trying again and again, failing again and again, hovering on the edge of life and death again and again. His body became riddled with holes in those experiments, but he never gave up."

"But the human body ultimately has limits. No matter how it is strengthened, it is ultimately a Mortal body. He began to turn his gaze to Armor Beasts. If humans cannot become Armor Beasts, then make Armor Beasts a part of humans."

Lin Fan's fingers tightened slightly.

"So he started doing human experiments."

President Ye Wenyuan's voice became cold.

"He started under the guise of recruiting Disciples. He performed human experiments on those who were as mediocre as him but craved power."

"And he brainwashed them, instilling his philosophy into them—Transcendence."

"Transcend, overcome. Transcend the limits of the Mortal body, overcome the shackles of Aptitude. Use the flesh and blood of Armor Beasts to forge one's own divine body."

Lin Fan finally spoke.

"He is a madman..."

"Also a Genius."

President Ye Wenyuan nodded.

"He calls himself 'Ruins Ancestor'. Ruins, is the ruins, is nothingness, is the place where all things end."

"He believes that the existing Beast Armor Master system is a building about to collapse, and he wants to establish a new order on these ruins—an order where 'Ruins Embryo' is respected, and Mortals are slaves."

Lin Fan asked.

"Is there no one to regulate them?"

"Of course there is, but they hide very deeply and develop very quickly."

President Ye Wenyuan picked up a pen and began to write.

"The Ruins Embryo Society has a tight organizational structure inside. The top level is the Ruins Ancestor himself; no one knows his true strength. To be precise, no one has seen his appearance for a long time."

"And under the Ruins Ancestor, there are the 'Twelve Zodiacs'. This is the core combat power of the Ruins Embryo Society; every single one of them is a monster that survived countless transplant surgeries. Their cultivation Realm is at least comparable to an Armor Sovereign."

Lin Fan's pupils constricted.

"Armor Sovereign."

"That is a Realm far above Armor Master, there aren't many in the whole Dongyun City."

"The Twelve Zodiacs each lead a force, responsible for different affairs. Some are responsible for collecting rare Armor Beasts, some are responsible for researching transplantation technology, some are responsible for developing new members, some are responsible for... clearing obstacles."

"They are secretive in their whereabouts and never act alone; once exposed, they will immediately withdraw. In the past hundred years, the military and the association have joined forces to encircle and suppress them countless times, but each time they could only catch some peripheral members; the core layer has never been shaken."

He put away the map and looked at Lin Fan.

"So I said, it was your luck that you could retreat unscathed after meeting them in the Secret Realm."

After a long time, President Ye Wenyuan withdrew his gaze and waved his hand.

"Alright, that's it for today. Burn that booklet after you read it, don't keep it."

Lin Fan nodded and walked toward the door. When he reached the door, he suddenly turned back and asked.

"Master, that Ruins Ancestor... what is his name?"

President Ye Wenyuan's gaze was scorching as he spat out two words.

"Yin Xin..."