Chapter 175 – Stealing the Treasure
The second demon’s eyes turned red. Without any warning, it attacked the little creature. The little creature was also fierce; its divine intellect flew out and attacked as well.
The two collided instantly, and because of the divine sense mark Wang Lin had left on the second devil, he immediately noticed its change. This confrontation was fraught with danger, as only one of them could survive. Either the second devil would be devoured, or the small variant creature would merge with the second devil.
Soon after, Wang Lin took out a soul. The demon he had created as a soul devourer already contained the characteristics of a wandering soul; how could this variant compare?
The two souls began to merge, and a second demon began to emerge. The variant’s divine sense slowly faded until it was completely consumed by the second demon.
A group of small creatures quickly surrounded the second demon and formed another black tornado. Wang Lin’s eyes lit up. The reason these small creatures were able to merge their divine senses was because there was a powerful leader guiding them. The fact that these small creatures’ divine senses could merge and even devour each other was related to their nature.
The second demon let out a few screams and was about to attack the variant within the other black tornado when Wang Lin let out a cold snort. The second demon immediately stopped. Even the tornado stopped spinning and transformed back into countless tiny creatures.
Wang Lin could clearly see that within those small creatures, the second demon showed an expression of pain, with deep fear of Wang Lin in his eyes.
Wang Lin sent a message. The second demon immediately screamed, and the small beasts around him surrounded Wang Lin. Wang Lin remained calm; his eyes were as calm as still water. He didn’t react to the small creatures flapping their wings around him.
After the small creatures approached him, they didn’t attack him. Instead, they picked him up and transformed back into a black tornado.
Demon Xu Liguo wanted to follow him in, but he was repelled by the black tornado. He let out a series of roars as he felt extremely wronged. In the end, it was Wang Lin who reached out and dragged him in.
While inside the black tornado, he didn’t even need to fly at all; he stood on top of several small creatures. Moreover, he was surrounded by the combined divine senses of all these small creatures, so the creatures in the other tornadoes could barely see him.
Wang Lin’s eyes lit up. He gave the second demon an order, and the tornado immediately flew toward Hunchback Meng. As it did so, the other tornadoes followed. Soon, all ten tornadoes arrived at the gathering place of the other tornadoes.
As they approached, a powerful divine sense passed by them. Wang Lin became alert, but the divine sense didn’t stop and continued to pass by them.
The divine senses clearly didn’t observe closely; they just glanced briefly and didn’t find anything wrong.
Perhaps in his opinion, there couldn’t possibly be anything abnormal about the tornado. Wang Lin stared at the king tornado and sneered in his heart. Needless to say, that divine sense must belong to a variant within the king tornado.
He already had some understanding of these tiny creatures. Within each tornado, there was a more powerful variant within it. It was these creatures that allowed the tiny creatures to combine their divine senses and give commands.
It’s like the difference between a general and a soldier. Normal, small creatures are soldiers, more powerful variants are generals, and the one inside the tornado that seems to reach the heavens is the king.
As he got closer, Wang Lin could see that within the cluster of giant tornadoes, there was a towering black tower. Hunchback Meng was definitely inside it.
Wang Lin wasn’t in a rush. The reason he asked the second demon to bring him here was because he realized he could approach unnoticed. He was acting on the opportunity presented. He didn’t think he could kill Hunchback Meng, but he wanted to use this opportunity to steal some treasures.
The divine sense mark left inside the second devil’s body was different from the divine sense mark left inside devil Xu Liguo’s body. Devil Xu Liguo had cultivated for a very long time, so Wang Lin’s divine sense mark had been imprinted within him. In fact, Wang Lin didn’t even need his Ji Realm; all he needed was a thought to destroy Xu Liguo. However, under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t use the mark he left behind to attack. He was saving it as a last resort.
He usually used the Ji Realm to threaten and his mark to manipulate secretly. However, Xu Liguo had recovered some of his memories, making him very different from those wandering souls.
However, the second demon was different. Although Wang Lin’s imprint on the second demon wasn’t deep, he took the initiative early on, preventing the second demon from rebelling.
The reason Wang Lin stopped the second demon from merging with more variant creatures within the other tornado was because he was afraid that the merging would dilute his divine sense mark. This would cause problems. With Wang Lin’s cunning, there was no way he would allow such a thing to happen.
Even someone as tenacious as Xu Liguo was completely tamed by Wang Lin, there was no way a demon created from an ordinary animal could match him.
Hunchback Meng’s face looked gloomy like muddy water as he stared bitterly at the tornadoes outside. He paid special attention to the largest tornado with a look of fear on his face. The divine sense within the largest tornado was as strong as all the other tornadoes combined. He was able to use his divine sense to push the heaven-destroying poison away.
During this time, he had exhausted all the spirit beasts in his storage bag. Although the technique he used after using the spirit beasts as substitutes was able to kill many of them, more creatures quickly arrived.
It’s impossible to kill them all!
And if he made a mistake, he would be hit by the combined divine senses of all those tiny creatures. Even though he was a Soul Formation cultivator, this would still injure him.
This was not a minor injury, but a serious injury that could result in a drastic decline in his cultivation.
As for the treasure, he had also used quite a bit. Although there were some effects, the results were the same.
At this moment, he was at his wits’ end. It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered attacking; he had already tried. Back then, he had used over ten spirit beasts as substitutes, but just as he was about to break through the encirclement, the largest tornado struck him. Not only did the tornado prevent him from leaving, but it also severely injured him.
Hunchback Meng thought bitterly, “Could it be that the heavens want me dead? I’ve defied the heavens during my cultivation and finally reached the middle stage of Soul Formation. I originally thought I could use this cultivation to obtain a Soul Transformation Pill and reach the Soul Transformation stage in one go, but…” He couldn’t help but think back to 1,000 years ago when the last group had arrived. Everyone except the four of them had died.
There were many among them whose cultivation levels were higher than theirs, but they all died. The four of them survived only by sheer luck.
After 1,000 years of preparation, he was able to raise his cultivation level from late-stage Nascent Soul to mid-stage Soul Formation. The reason he was able to advance so quickly was because he consumed one of the Giant Demon Clan’s ultimate treasures, the Ancestral Demon Heart!
This is also why he is wanted and hunted by the Giant Demon Clan!
Hunchback Meng showed a reluctant expression. He clenched his teeth as his gaze fell on the toad. This toad, Li Tian, had been with him for thousands of years and had never left him. He had watched it grow from a low-grade spirit beast to a high-grade spirit beast. It was already considered a quasi-divine beast. If it had some pills to help it, it could truly become a true divinity beast in another thousand years.
But now Hunchback Meng had no choice. He stroked the toad and whispered, “If I could teleport in this damned place, then I wouldn’t be in this situation. Li Tian, I’m depending on you this time!”
As he spoke, his right hand suddenly reached for the frog’s mouth. The frog’s body trembled and showed a pained expression. However, the frog didn’t resist; it simply stared at its owner calmly.
Hunchback Meng closed his eyes, but immediately opened them again. His eyes were now merciless as he said, in a heavy tone, “Li Tian, I apologize!” After that, his right hand was viciously pulled back. In his hand was a green core that emitted powerful spiritual energy fluctuations.
Li Tian’s toad weakened and fell to the side. It let out a weak croak as all the nodules on its back began to burst, releasing a foul-smelling black liquid that covered its body. Even its croaking voice no longer held any power.
Without hesitation, Hunchback Meng threw the toad’s origin core into his mouth. His body immediately began to twitch, and black smoke emerged from his face. He let out several roars as all the pustules on his face burst. Black liquid sprayed everywhere, emitting black smoke as it landed on the wall.
There are many levels of cores within spirit creatures, but only when a creature reaches the spirit creature level does its true core form. While some variants also possess cores, they are merely fake. These cores are formed solely by their spiritual energy and are used for storage.
The true core is very different because it is the foundation for all of the beast’s techniques. When a beast reaches the low-grade spirit beast level, an earth core similar to the core of a Core Formation cultivator is formed. However, this earth core is still very different from the core of a Core Formation cultivator.
When they become mid-grade spirit beasts, their earth core turns into heaven core, and when they become high-grade spirit beasts, their heaven core turns into origin core, only a step away from the desolate beast origin soul!
Only when they reach the desolate beast level do their origin cores transform into origin souls. At that point, they truly become powerful desolate beasts.
The black gas on Hunchback Meng’s body grew denser as he lay on the ground and reached for the toad. After grabbing the toad, he pressed it against his forehead.
More and more black liquid poured out of the toad. This liquid coated the bumps on Hunchback Meng’s face and seeped into them. Eventually, the entire toad turned into black liquid, which Hunchback Meng absorbed.
The hump on Hunchback Meng’s back suddenly swelled, and numerous bumps appeared on it. These bumps covered his entire back. Looking at him now, he looked a bit like that toad.
Hunchback Meng closed his eyes. Black gas gathered on his forehead and formed a vortex. Then, he suddenly opened his eyes. His pupils were now triangular. His gaze revealed a cruel look.
As Hunchback Meng clenched his fist, black lightning appeared and crackled in his hand. He took a deep breath and muttered to himself, his voice hoarse, “This ancient devil technique is truly amazing. Using the origin core of a high-quality spirit beast toad, it can raise my cultivation to the peak of the late Soul Formation stage. This time, I will be able to break through! However, the price is too great. If I hadn’t been forced into this helpless situation… damn it!”
With that, he slowly exited the black tower. As he exited, lightning formed by the fusion of divine senses suddenly descended. Hunchback Meng, with sharp eyes, spat out a mouthful of green gas. As the divine sense lightning entered the green gas, its speed slowed slightly. Taking this opportunity, Hunchback Meng jumped into one of the tornadoes.
The tornado suddenly stopped spinning, and the tiny creatures within it scattered. However, they didn’t move far before exploding, raining their blood from the sky.
Hunchback Meng’s eyes were cruel as he jumped into the next tornado.
But soon, millions of divine senses united to form a spear that shot forward as if to split the sky.
The spear left numerous trails as it streaked across the sky. One second it was in the air and the next it was approaching Hunchback Meng, leaving behind a sonic boom. Even the Earth’s trial barriers were affected; they emitted a thunderous rumbling sound.
The tornado Wang Lin was riding in was far behind, so it didn’t affect him much. He stared at Hunchback Meng’s inhuman form. He paid extra attention to the bag of holding at Hunchback Meng’s waist.
As for the divine sense spear, Hunchback Meng only glanced at it briefly before forming a seal with his hands and uttering a complex chant. Suddenly, a small, four-legged cauldron covered in gas flew out of his mouth.
As the cauldron appeared, a thick green gas began to spread out. The spear landed on the small cauldron. The collision between the two created a thunderous rumble, and a ten-foot-thick shockwave spread out rapidly. Even the tornado was forced to flee. Those who weren’t fast enough were struck by the shockwave. All the small creatures within the tornado were turned to dust.
Wang Lin’s eyes lit up as he retreated with the other tornado, but his gaze remained fixed on Hunchback Meng. He didn’t blink even once.
The small cauldron in the air broke in two and fell from the sky. However, the spear that struck it began to turn green, starting from the tip. Soon, the entire spear turned green. It trembled before disintegrating into divine senses.
That’s when something strange happened. Nearly every divine sense part of the spear had a slight green tint. That green color began to spread rapidly, and within seconds, all the divine senses part of the spear had turned completely green.
As the green cauldron split in half, Hunchback Meng’s body suddenly weakened. He vomited several mouthfuls of essence blood. The green cauldron was his life’s treasure. With his late-stage Soul Formation cultivation, he was able to use it to withstand the attack of over a billion divine senses combined, but it was ultimately split in half.
Hunchback Meng didn’t have time to feel the pain of loss. His eyes were red as he stared at the green divine sense that covered the sky.
All the green divine senses exploded and transformed into spiritual energy. Once their divine senses were destroyed, their bodies died as well.
As the divine sense exploded, a large number of tornadoes stopped spinning and the small creatures inside them fell from the sky.
Hunchback Meng reached out and put the broken green cauldron back into his bag. He took this opportunity to escape, and the direction he was heading happened to be where Wang Lin’s tornado was.
At that moment, the tornado king let out a thunderous roar. The tornado suddenly stopped spinning, revealing a 30-foot-long flying creature.
Its size was many times larger than that of its kind, but to Wang Lin, it couldn’t even compare to the desolate dragon inside the tunnel.
As the beast roared, it leaped forward. Sound waves radiated from its sharp beak as it flew. Wherever the sound waves traveled, the earth showed signs of being torn apart. This demonstrated its immense power.
At the same time, all the remaining tornadoes charged towards Hunchback Meng, especially the tornadoes in the direction where Hunchback Meng was heading. They all attacked, disregarding their own lives as they tried to stop Hunchback Meng. Divine senses, sound waves, and various attacks rained down on Hunchback Meng. However, none of them were able to stop Hunchback Meng. Every tornado shattered as Hunchback Meng crashed into them.
However, every time he collided with one, the black vortex on his forehead dimmed slightly. He silently complained in his heart. He knew that his cultivation level would soon end. If he stopped for even a moment, he would be hit by the tornado king’s sound waves. Thinking this, he flew even faster.
Wang Lin saw that as the king creature emitted the sound wave, a flash of light shot out from the creature’s forehead. A golden finger was protruding from its forehead.
He didn’t have much time to think about it, as Hunchback Meng was getting closer. Wang Lin’s eyes lit up as he sneered and slapped his storage bag. A dragon vein suddenly flew out. It quickly condensed and created branches that also condensed around the same spot, forming a thick stick.
As Hunchback Meng approached, the tornado that had been attacking him retreated. Among all the other tornadoes, his tornado was barely visible.
As Hunchback Meng charged, Wang Lin threw out the dragon tendon. Hunchback Meng had just charged through the tornado when he suddenly noticed an abnormal fluctuation of spiritual energy. However, the area was currently filled with the spiritual energy of dead creatures, so unless he examined it very carefully, it would be difficult to detect exactly what it was.
Hunchback Meng was determined to escape, so even though he noticed it, he didn’t think much of it. Hunchback Meng didn’t expect there to be any other human cultivators here besides himself.
However, when he suddenly felt a powerful force pulling his right leg, his expression changed drastically. Without even needing to turn around, thanks to his experience, he could tell that it was a magic treasure made from the tendons of a wild beast. There was no way the little creature could use a magic treasure, so the only other answer was that it was a human cultivator!
Hunchback Meng usually didn’t care much for treasures like this. All he had to do was use a little spiritual energy to destroy them and use poison to poison their wielders.
However, he was currently surrounded by a black tornado that sent out endless waves of sound waves and divine sense attacks. He was already struggling to force his way through this final breath of spiritual energy. Especially since his life treasure had been destroyed, he was in a miserable state. If not for the combination of the ancient demonic technique and the toad, he would have died.
At this critical moment, this normally insignificant dragon vein was like a death rune imprinted on his body. Although the dragon vein shattered under his power, it gave him pause.
It was only a pause, but it lasted long enough for the sound wave to reach his back and the nearby tornado attack to approach.
Straw cannot kill a camel, but it can be a breaking point that causes the camel to be trampled to death.
The effect of the dragon vein is like that straw.
As Hunchback Meng was hit in the back by the sound wave, he coughed up blood and was sent flying. Just then, a giant tornado passed him. A hand reached out and grabbed the bag of holding at his waist.
At that moment, Hunchback Meng vaguely saw the tornado. He saw Wang Lin’s mocking smile. He became furious and coughed up another mouthful of blood. The blood turned into a gas that would make people nauseous and chased after the tornado.
After Wang Lin grabbed the storage bag, he ordered the second demon to fly as fast as possible toward the vortex without hesitation. That was the entrance to the second trial.
As for the blood, it was blocked by the small creatures that formed the tornado. However, the poison within the blood was no joke, and since Wang Lin was always cautious, he jumped out of the tornado the moment the blood hit it. Right behind him were two demons.
As soon as Wang Lin landed, he entered the ground with his Earth Escape Technique and rapidly moved forward. As for the tornado, his blood completely infected it, killing all the small creatures within it.
Although many things happened, they all happened very quickly. In the blink of an eye, the bag slung around Hunchback Meng’s waist disappeared.
When Hunchback Meng was hit by the sound waves, his bones and flesh began to crack. Numerous nodules on his back burst, oozing a foul-smelling black liquid. Any small creature that touched the black liquid instantly died.
At this moment, he saw that his blood attack had been blocked and Wang Lin had successfully escaped. He didn’t even feel heartbroken that his storage bag had been stolen. Instead, he was filled with a strong desire to kill Wang Lin. If it weren’t for Wang Lin, he would have already successfully passed this blockade and reached the second trial.
However, all of this changed with Wang Lin’s appearance. With Hunchback Meng’s intelligence, he immediately realized that Wang Lin had been paving the way for him all along. He had even attracted the attention of all the tornadoes. Otherwise, with that kid’s Core Formation cultivation, how else could he have safely passed the first trial?