34: The Gray Pearl
The kidnapper who was guiding them tried to sneak away quietly to report back, taking advantage of the group’s divided attention.
In the next instant, before his left foot could step forward, he felt a chill on his neck and collapsed with a thud, falling silent.
The Wind-Breaking Blade made a full circle before flying back to Chu Sang’s palm. She didn’t even glance at it as she stored it in her dantian, then surveyed her surroundings.
“The Ten Thousand Killers Sect is a fairly established sect. We’ve barged into their headquarters so brazenly, yet the Sect Leader hasn’t shown any reaction. Doesn’t that seem odd?” Tantai Ming felt something was amiss, but couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was strange.
Before coming to the dungeon, they had thoroughly searched the Ten Thousand Killers Sect inside and out but hadn’t found any trace of the Sect Leader. It was unclear whether he had fled in advance or was hiding somewhere, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
“Chengying, have you gathered any information?” As Sikong Qiu finished speaking, a tall dark-clad guard stepped out from behind her.
The guard’s face was half-covered, revealing a pair of cold, serious black eyes. His figure was tall and slender, his back as straight as a pine tree, with an exceptionally cold and stern demeanor that gave people a sense of security.
Chengying was Sikong Qiu’s personal guard, at mid Golden Core stage with considerable strength. For decades, he had protected her safety like a shadow. Without him, Sikong Qiu, at early Foundation Establishment stage, wouldn’t have dared to take such a risk alone.
He spoke softly and respectfully, “This subordinate led a search but couldn’t find any trace of the Sect Leader.”
“The Ten Thousand Killers Sect Leader’s identity is a mystery, and his whereabouts are unpredictable. I’ve been investigating his identity recently and have some clues. It seems this person…”
He paused, then continued, “This person seems to have a beastly aura about him.”
“Beast race?”
Everyone’s hearts tightened. The enmity between the Demon race and the cultivation world was well-known, but besides these two realms, there were also the Beast realm and the Ghost realm.
The Ghost realm was in decline. Although ghost cultivators occasionally mingled in the cultivation world, they couldn’t stir up much trouble.
In comparison, the Beast race was powerful, almost on par with the Demon race and the cultivation world.
During the millennia-long conflict between the Demon race and the cultivation world, the Beast race had always watched from the sidelines, maintaining neutrality most of the time and avoiding involvement in either side’s affairs.
The previous Beast Sovereign loved peace and disliked war. He even signed a ten-thousand-year non-aggression pact with the cultivation world and strongly encouraged friendly negotiations between the two realms.
Therefore, for thousands of years, a small portion of beast cultivators had settled in the cultivation world. The two races coexisted relatively harmoniously, with few rumors of them harming humans or cultivators.
But a few years ago, great turmoil occurred in the Beast realm. The specifics of the internal news were blocked, and the outside world knew nothing.
The outside world only knew that the Beast realm had changed rulers. The current Beast realm was in a state of unrest. This newly appointed Beast Sovereign’s conduct was the exact opposite of his predecessor, even to the point of being two extremes, with extremely ambitious goals.
This new Beast Sovereign had been eyeing the vast and rich lands of the cultivation world, constantly seeking an opportunity to seize them.
It was during these past few years that rumors of beasts harming humans had become more frequent. There were even several instances of powerful beasts appearing in the world, causing widespread panic.
Could it be……
“Young Miss and the sect members must be extremely careful,” Chengying said. “During my earlier secret investigation, I learned from the Ten Thousand Killers Sect disciples that they are keeping a beast at the half-step Nascent Soul stage in the sect. It has a taste for human flesh. The missing children have likely fallen prey to this beast. We must avoid encountering it at all costs.”
“Awoo~”
Without being summoned, Little White suddenly ran out of the spirit beast bag, galloping happily in a certain direction.
Something’s up?
Chu Sang turned back, “Senior Brothers, Senior Sisters, let’s follow!”
Devouring Beasts are extremely sensitive to fluctuations in energy, even earning the nickname “treasure-seeking beasts.” Sure enough, after following Little White through twists and turns for a while, they discovered a hidden door in the corner of the main hall.
Chu Sang quickly solved the mechanism.
The door opened.
Inside was actually a hidden underground chamber.
In the chamber, countless treasures and spirit stones were piled up like mountains. There were also several large chests which, when opened, were filled with various precious pills, magic tools, and heavenly treasures, dazzling to the eye.
Chu Sang drew in a sharp breath, “What a sin!”
The Ten Thousand Killers Sect had amassed huge wealth by peddling Blood Refining Powder, allowing civilians without spirit roots to cultivate immortal arts and helping cultivators stuck at bottlenecks to greatly increase their cultivation in a short time.
In just a few short years, they had accumulated enormous wealth, truly unscrupulous.
“A small sect established just a few years ago can earn so much money, why is our Lingqing Sect so poor that people are almost all gone?” The more Chu Sang thought about it, the angrier she became.
This won’t do, we must take it all! Only spirit stones and treasures can soothe her wounded heart.
Seeing their little junior sister’s bandit-like behavior, everyone fell silent for a moment. Chu Sang turned her head and called out, “Senior Brothers, Senior Sisters, why are you standing there in a daze? Come quickly and pack up, my Qiankun bag is already full!”
Tantai Ming ran over, “Coming!”
Su Chen’an coughed lightly, “Frugality is also a virtue.”
Then everyone joined the looting squad without any psychological burden. In just half an incense stick’s time, the vast treasure vault was cleaned out as if a swarm of locusts had passed through.
“What’s this thing?” Chu Sang found a similarly gray pearl in a dusty wooden box, about half the size of a palm.
Among the dazzling gold, silver, and spirit stones, this pearl seemed exceptionally plain, so plain that it stood out from the surroundings, catching Chu Sang’s eye immediately.
“It looks like an ordinary pearl, without even a trace of spiritual energy fluctuation. It probably has no use,” Wen Renyue said.
Mu Chihuai shook his head, looking thoughtful, “All the treasures in this vault are extraordinary items. The Sect Leader even specially stored this in a box. This pearl must be extraordinary as well.”
“Whatever, who cares.” Chu Sang directly tossed it into her Qiankun bag. After all, what she “picked up” naturally became hers.
Tak,
Tak tak,
“… Senior Brothers, Senior Sisters, did you hear any strange sounds?” Chu Sang looked around, pulling out a stack of Vajra Talismans and Speed Talismans. Her instincts told her it was time to run.
“There was no sound just now, did you mishear?”
Just as Tantai Ming finished speaking, they all heard a faint dripping sound.
Su Chen’an’s slightly surprised gaze fell on Chu Sang beside him. He had been at the Golden Core stage for three years and was also an artificer. His divine sense had been honed to be three times stronger than cultivators of the same level.
Yet he hadn’t heard this sound first, but rather his little junior sister had noticed it before him…
Could it be that Little Junior Sister’s divine sense……
Su Chen’an’s expression remained unchanged, but his heart was churning with shock. However, such an outrageous thing happening to Little Junior Sister seemed… strangely reasonable?
Sikong Qiu rubbed her arms and hid behind Chengying, “Umm, I feel uneasy here. We… we should leave quickly!”
Chengying shielded her behind him, his hand on his sword hilt, saying in a low voice, “Don’t be afraid, Young Miss. This subordinate will protect you with his life.”
Before they could leave, the entrance stone door slammed shut with a “Bang!” Hundreds of runes appeared on the wall surface.
The runes connected, actually forming a formation, trapping them all in the stone chamber!
This is bad, we’ve fallen into a trap.
At the same time, the strange sound grew louder, and thousands upon thousands of black spiders emerged from hidden corners.
Each black spider was about the size of a fist, looking crudely terrifying. Especially as they swarmed forth in groups, like a huge black carpet trying to bury everyone, it made one’s scalp tingle and raised goosebumps!
Chu Sang shielded everyone behind her, stuffed hundreds of Explosive Talismans into her gun, and unleashed a barrage of shots at the ground. The floor was soon covered with a large pile of spider corpses, making the scene even more horrifying.
Tantai Ming swung his sword, releasing dozens of sharp sword qi, shattering the spiders’ exit points and blocking them with rubble, finally bringing some peace.
Before they could catch their breath, an even greater change was upon them.
A snow-white silk thread appeared in Chu Sang’s eyes. No, not one, but ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand… In an instant, they were wrapped in tens of thousands of silk threads. The threads rapidly contracted, and their figures disappeared, replaced by several huge white cocoons.
“Kekekekeke,”
A genderless, sinister laugh came from another hidden door.
From the darkness emerged a huge figure, a full three meters tall. Most bizarre was that its lower half was in spider form, while the upper half was human-shaped.
The human form was quite strange, half male and half female. The expression on its face kept changing, as if it had gone mad.
“Cultivators, cultivators delivered right to my door, hahahaha, truly heaven-sent! The true essence of hundreds of boys and girls, plus the flesh and blood of these cultivators, will surely help me form my Nascent Soul!” The male half of the face laughed wildly.
“Hungry… hungry… want… want to eat! Want to eat!”
The female half seemed somewhat confused, or perhaps had only a child’s intelligence, constantly clamoring about being hungry and wanting to eat, frantically fighting for control of the body.
The man cursed under his breath, “Damn it, once I form my Nascent Soul, I’ll truly be able to control this body.” He sighed, “This beast’s body is indeed much stronger than a cultivator’s body…”
The woman was still muttering about being hungry, impatiently approaching the large white cocoons, about to extend her sharp pincers covered in dense black hair to devour them.
But in the next second, a sharp blade qi cut through the white cocoon, followed by more than a dozen Explosive Talismans flying out, causing her to emit a series of painful, sharp screeches.
The man, sharing the same body, was also in excruciating pain. He slammed a palm heavily towards them but was bounced back.
Su Chen’an casually took out three defensive spirit tools, protecting everyone tightly.
“Little Junior Sister, it’s fortunate you stuffed in some Explosive Talismans in advance,” Tantai Ming, turned into a fanboy, exclaimed, “These talismans are so useful, and their power seems even greater than before! They actually burned a hole directly in this big cocoon! All the spider webs were burned away too!”
Chu Sang rubbed her chin, “Although Explosive Talismans and Flame Talismans are both basic talismans, I found that when combined, their explosive power is quite impressive. Not only does it increase the power of the Explosive Talisman several times over, but it also adds a burning effect.”
“Be careful,” Mu Chihuai narrowed his eyes, warning everyone, “If I’m not mistaken, this male cultivator should be the Sect Leader of the Ten Thousand Killers Sect, and the beast’s true form—is this woman.”
“This male cultivator must have used some secret technique to fuse their bodies together.”
“A beast’s physique and cultivation speed far surpass those of cultivators. He probably wanted to use this to break through his bottleneck and form a Nascent Soul. Afterward, he could completely devour the beast’s consciousness, making this beast body his new body entirely.”
“Damn, I didn’t know it could be done like this, truly perverted.” Wen Renyue was utterly distressed. As a beast tamer, she couldn’t stand such vicious acts that went against nature.
Seeing the beast about to spit silk for a sneak attack again, Chu Sang threw out another handful of Explosive Talismans, burning all the spider silk to ashes.
Tantai Ming seized the opportunity to unleash several sword qi, leaving several wounds on the spider beast’s hard black shell.
“Hiss—” The beast became enraged and swung its pincers to attack him.
Chu Sang pulled out her gun and started target practice. The enraged beast then charged at her.
The next second, Tantai Ming drew its aggro back with another sword strike.
The two of them, one on the left and one on the right, were having a great time.
The beast was going mad.
“You insects, seeking death!” The man and woman screamed simultaneously, completely transforming into full beast form.
The terrifying pressure of a half-step Nascent Soul stage could cause lower-level cultivators to die on the spot, blood flowing from their seven orifices.
Su Chen’an hurriedly used defensive spirit tools to resist the pressure, but could only hold out for an incense stick’s time.
“This kind of beast’s weakness is in its abdomen, which isn’t covered by the black shell!” Wen Renyue said.
Although this was true, the beast wasn’t stupid either. It naturally protected its only weakness carefully. How easy could it be to strike its abdomen?
“Little Junior Sister, where are you going? It’s dangerous outside…” Tantai Ming panicked when he saw Chu Sang running out directly.
Although he knew his junior sister’s movements were tricky, this was a half-step Nascent Soul stage beast! It was nothing like those previous small fry. It could truly kill her with one slap!!
Chu Sang, fearless, even smiled and waved at the beast, “I’m over here, come and catch me!”
“Hiss—”
The beast pounced towards her.
Chu Sang didn’t run but threw out a sword.
The beast naturally wouldn’t fall for such a small trick, easily dodging the attack and instantly appearing behind her. Its long, sharp black pincers slammed her heavily into the ground.
The force was terrifying, creating a huge crater in the ground!
No one could escape alive.
However, when it pulled its pincers out of the pit, instead of seeing a beautifully mangled scene, it saw… a dark iron black sword broken in half?
What’s going on??
In that brief moment of the spider beast’s confusion, it felt a chill in its abdomen. The girl, tightly gripping a long sword, had directly pierced its unguarded belly. With a “squelch!” she pulled it out, bringing with it flesh and yellowish-green viscous fluid, even pulling out a small golden ball.
The beast “crashed!” over onto its back, its eight legs twitched a few times, then fell silent, dead as dead could be.
“What… just happened?” Tantai Ming was shocked.
It all happened too fast. Everyone hadn’t reacted yet. Hadn’t Little Junior Sister just been hit by that beast? They saw it with their own eyes, so how did she instantly appear behind the beast?