Aksai continued descending.
The deeper he went into the microscopic world, the more the familiar structures around him began to disappear.
Cells.
Blood vessels.
Spirit Essence.
Even the strange colors that had previously overwhelmed his perception gradually faded into the background.
He kept following the traces of Humeyin’s bloodline.
Deeper and deeper.
Until suddenly—
Everything changed.
Aksai found himself standing in a world where there was almost nothing else to see.
Twisted ladder-like structures stretched endlessly in every direction.
Countless strands crossed through the microscopic void, winding around one another in elegant spirals.
Aksai stared at them.
"DNA..."
He recognized them immediately.
They bore a remarkable resemblance to the DNA double helix he had known from his previous life.
The resemblance wasn’t perfect, however.
The differences were incredibly subtle.
Some existed within the molecular backbone. Others appeared in the rungs connecting the two strands.
There were minute alterations in the arrangement of the base pairs.
Even the antiparallel orientation of the strands contained peculiar deviations.
To an ordinary observer, those differences would have been meaningless.
To Aksai who had spent decades in conducting bloodline experiments, they were everything.
Those tiny deviations were not random mutations.
They were the foundation of Humeyin’s Blackblood Bloodline.
Aksai moved closer.
His perception followed the structure deeper.
The alterations immediately stood out.
They were marked in black.
The altered portions of Humeyin’s DNA seemed to carry an actual black coloration that distinguished them from the rest of the structure.
Aksai’s expression became serious.
"What exactly are you?"
He focused on one of the black-marked sections. Using the Void Gu’s inherent ability to alter the space around them to change their size, he went even deeper. And when he did, he saw something moving inside it.
Tiny strands of black flame.
They were so small that they would have been invisible to anyone incapable of perceiving this microscopic layer.
Yet they were there.
The black flames continuously moved through the altered sections of the DNA, flickering and twisting as though they possessed a life of their own.
Aksai watched one of the flames come into contact with a tiny stream of light.
The result was immediate.
The light disappeared.
It was devoured.
But the black flame didn’t disappear with it.
Instead, it became slightly darker.
The consumed light had been converted into energy.
Aksai’s breathing slowed.
"So that’s what it means to devour Light Essence..."
He had understood the basic principle of Humeyin’s Light Devouring Physique before. But seeing the process at this level was completely different.
Her bloodline wasn’t simply absorbing light. Something within her bloodline was actively consuming it and converting it into another form of energy.
Aksai continued observing before eventually curiosity got the better of him.
He descended another layer.
The moment he did, the DNA structures became enormous in his perception.
The black alterations expanded before him like enormous landscapes.
And then—
Aksai saw something else.
A residual will.
It wasn’t a complete consciousness or a living soul but merely an ancient imprint.
A fragment of something that had once existed.
Yet the moment Aksai sensed it, his entire body stiffened.
A feeling of immense danger washed over him.
"What... what the fuuu*ck is th..."
He couldn’t finish the sentence.
Something was hidden within the bloodline.
It looked like some type of demon beast.
It resembled a dragon but only at first glance.
Its physique was completely different from every dragon-type creature Aksai had ever encountered.
It possessed three sets of limbs. Also, three sets of enormous wings extended from its body. And behind it swayed three massive tails.
Its head was fierce and imposing. There was only one head. But three eyes stared out from its face.
Each eye seemed to contain a different kind of darkness.
The beast opened its mouth. Black flames poured from between its jaws.
They didn’t burn like ordinary fire. They simply devoured light.
Wherever those flames passed, the surrounding radiance in the void disappeared.
Aksai’s pupils contracted. The residual will of the ancient demon beast wasn’t even directly targeting him. It wasn’t aware of his existence.
It was merely an imprint buried deep within Humeyin’s bloodline. Yet just experiencing it through the Void Gu’s senses made Aksai feel as though he had been thrown into an ancient battlefield.
Cold sweat immediately covered his body. His breathing became heavier. Even his Soul Space trembled faintly.
Even with Verdant Elder filtering the sensory information and Nuri processing the data, Aksai could still feel the sheer potential might of that residual will.
Aksai instinctively took a step back within his consciousness.
His gaze remained fixed upon the three-eyed demon beast. It felt to him that this residual will was capable of communicating with him to some extent. As such, Aksai tried to have a conversation with it by sending a strand of his Spirit essence to it through the Void Gu.
However, the ancient beast didn’t answer. It simply continued breathing those black flames.
The creature wasn’t merely the source of the flames. It was somehow woven into the bloodline itself.
The black alterations within Humeyin’s DNA seemed to carry traces of that ancient beast’s residual will.
Countless generations of bloodline inheritance had compressed a fragment of the creature’s existence into something microscopic.
Aksai frowned.
Either the residual will had failed to notice his presence, or it simply had no interest in communicating with him.
Considering how ancient the imprint appeared to be, Aksai couldn’t rule out either possibility.
"Well... Fine by me. I don’t want to talk to such a weird looking beast either."
He withdrew his attention from the creature.
Aksai retracted the level of the microscopic world and redirected his consciousness toward the DNA double helix.
The revelation immediately reminded him of Selene Blackmist.
Before leaving the reception hall, she had asked him whether he could cure Humeyin.
At the time, Aksai hadn’t given her a definitive answer.
Now, after examining Humeyin’s bloodline at this depth, he understood the problem much better.
There was no cure.
Because there was nothing to cure.
Humeyin’s Light Devouring Physique wasn’t an illness or a disease caused by external factors.
It wasn’t even a flaw in the traditional sense. It was simply a manifestation of her Blackblood Bloodline.
The problem was that her bloodline power expressed itself in a manner that caused more harm to her than benefit.
Her body constantly absorbed Light Essence. The accumulated Light Essence then produced increasingly dangerous effects.
If left unchecked, the very power contained within her bloodline could eventually destroy its own vessel.
Trying to suppress that power would therefore be counterproductive. Because the suppression layers would have limits and such limits would be destroyed by the Blackblood Dragon’s residual will sooner or later at a cellular level.
The answer wasn’t to weaken the bloodline. It wasn’t even to prevent it from devouring Light Essence either.
The answer was control.
Humeyin needed complete control over her own bloodline power. And the key to that control was hidden within the Helix code.
Aksai carefully examined the black alterations within the DNA double helix.
The black-colored rungs were woven into the structure, but they weren’t perfectly integrated.
Some of the black rungs weren’t completely attached to their respective levels of the antiparallel strands.
They were connected but not properly. There was a slight instability in their structure.
Aksai’s expression became solemn. He had finally found something he could work with.
Aksai immediately issued a command through the Void Gu Hivemind.
Eat.
The Void Gu responded. They surrounded the problematic sections of the Helix.
Their tiny bodies began consuming the dominant human rungs that interfered with the black alterations.
Aksai didn’t allow them to consume indiscriminately. Every movement had to be precise.
Every fragment had to be removed at exactly the right location.
The discarded pieces were then carried away by another group of Void Gu.
Aksai directed them toward the residual will of the ancient Blackblood Dragon.
The black flames surrounding the ancient creature immediately consumed the discarded genetic fragments.
Aksai watched carefully.
The flames didn’t simply burn them. They seemed to break them down before transforming them.
Something about the interaction confirmed Aksai’s hypothesis.
He began the next stage.
The Void Gu moved into position. Like microscopic machines, they began repairing the Helix.
They carried the necessary components.
Reconnected the appropriate structures.
Removed incompatible sections.
And carefully integrated the Blackblood alterations into the surrounding genetic framework.
Aksai had effectively turned the Void Gu into bio grade nanobots.
But what sounded simple in theory was anything but simple in practice.
The process was extraordinarily delicate.
One wrong command could damage an entire section of the Helix.
One misplaced Void Gu could interfere with a bloodline sequence.
One mistake could cause consequences that Aksai might not even be able to reverse.
So he worked slowly and patiently.
For hours at first. Then for an entire day.
Then another.
And another.
Aksai barely moved from the controlling Array Eye.
The formation continuously supplied him with the energy necessary to maintain Druidic Familiar.
Nuri constantly processed the information coming through the Void Gu Hivemind.
Verdant Elder filtered the sensory burden. And the Void Gu continued their microscopic work.
Three days passed.
Then more.
By the time Aksai finally felt that the process had reached a stable endpoint, his consciousness was exhausted.
He withdrew his awareness from the Void Gu Hivemind.
When he opened his eyes, Aksai took a deep breath.
Sweat covered his entire body.
For several moments, he simply sat there feeling utterly exhausted physically and mentally.
Then he turned toward Humeyin.
When he did, his expression changed.
Her black bandages were drenched.
Black blood had seeped through them in several places, staining the fabric. Sweat covered her body as well.
’Fuccc*k! Did I kill her?’