KaiserBlak
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Chapter 429: The So-Called Divine Beast
🕑 Added 2023-10-23 13:00:08 +0000 UTCIf Tianyi could, he would have merged with the carriage seat. Actually, that wasn’t out of the realm of possibility for his current abilities. Changing his form only took a single thought, but he didn’t want to show any weakness in front of Daoyi. ‘‘Damn stupid masculinity rearing its ugly head.’
As a child, he thought all insects were cool. Spiders didn’t count because they weren’t insects. And they were extremely creepy. But back to the main point.
He used to think insects were cool, but not now. Once they were gigantified to over two meters large, they transformed from cool to creepy. Tianyi didn’t notice at first, but many insects actually had tiny imperceptible hair on their body. Once enlarged, they immediately became evident and super disgusting.
Tianyi only noticed now because he hadn’t ever attempted to catch insects ever since he reincarnated. He was too mentally mature for that. The worst one was undoubtedly the hairy tarantula-like bug that carried the carriage he and Daoyi sat on. Four servant-disciples stood behind the carriage as attendants.
They had already come into the Xunshou Realm for over a month. Upon hearing about the legend, Daoyi’s interest surged, and she collected an army of insects. Even if her skills couldn’t compare to these dedicated beast tamers, she was still an immortal. In addition, she specialized in the soul path, making her immortal sense much stronger than these aboriginals of the Xunshou Realm.
In fact, Daoyi’s strongest spiritual beasts weren’t the ones escorting the carriage. In fact, the majority of them were inside the clay jar in Daoyi’s grasp. The clay jar itself looked like an ordinary clay pot less than thirty centimeters tall and fifteen centimeters at its widest, but the inside was deceptively large.
In fact, the inside contained a miniature world over a kilometer large at its peak. Now, it had shrunk to less than five hundred meters. Inside the jar were most of the spiritual beasts Daoyi had captured. She had stuffed over nine hundred bug-type spiritual beasts inside the jar. The inner space of the jar did not have any food or much spiritual qi, and the only method to survive was to cannibalize the other bug-type spiritual beasts.
In the end, only one would remain alive. It wasn’t because it was strong that it survived, but because it survived that it was considered strong. Each of the nine hundred spiritual beasts were poisonous. Once they devoured another bug, their poison would evolve, becoming more complex until the final one had the ultimate poison. This was one of the most ancient and orthodox methods of creating Gu.
Daoyi hadn’t done this before, but the Immortal Court had several methods relating to creating Gu. Daoyi had attempted it on a whim.
‘If only her whims weren’t so terrifying,’ Tianyi thought.
Soon, the carriage arrived on the ground. All the other tamers that arrived took second glances at the couple. Most of them were at the core formation level or its equivalent, with a few grandmasters. Fewer still were the foundation establishment disciples. Although the Untamed Lands were dangerous, it was still a land of many opportunities, so many forces would send their disciples to venture inside to seek their own fortunes.
Still, compared to Daoyi’s clamorous entrance, even the members of the Four Beasts Sects appeared dull.
When the carriage landed, a giant worm over five meters tall crawled over. Its head resembled that of a termite with two giant mandibles. It had a flat body with forty segments, each one sprouting silver hair-like spikes, but that wasn’t the most eye-catching fact about it. No, it was the pearl-colored scales that reflected every color under the sunlight. Fittingly, it was called the Prismatic Scale Worm, and it exuded the power of a grandmaster.
The worm raised its head above the open carriage and Daoyi scratched its chin like it was some sort of dog. Its mandible chattered like it was a cat purring. Tianyi couldn’t help but scoot to the other end of the seat so he could be as far as possible from the worm.
Naturally, everyone could see his movements. Most people couldn’t help but disdain him. A few even openly snorted. In their eyes, it was evident that Daoyi was the true master of the bug-type spiritual beasts. As for Tianyi, he was likely someone lucky who happened to catch Daoyi’s eyes. Maybe he was a gigolo that she fancied.
Their hypothesis only solidified because they couldn’t sense any cultivation base from Tianyi, marking him as a regular mortal.
***
“Tsk, tsk,” one disciple from the White Beast Sect grunted. “That mortal just reached the peak of his life. Still, what a lowly trash, a phoenix man.”
Phoenix man was a term used to denote males who climbed up the social ladder by relying on a woman. Most of the time, it related to marriage, but it could also refer to becoming a woman’s gigolo.
Most of the other tamers didn’t dare to comment, fearing the reprisal of the woman in blue. They couldn’t sense her cultivation base clearly, but it was definitely near or at the grandmaster level. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to control over a hundred spiritual beasts at the master level. However, he was from one of the four overlord sects, so he didn’t think a grandmaster tamer would find fault with him over a mortal.
The disciple blinked when he saw Tianyi glance at him. Although he wasn’t afraid of Daoyi’s reprisal, it didn’t mean he would antagonize her for a mere mortal. He just said those words for his fellow disciples and elders to hear. They also chuckled, but it seemed that the mortal actually heard him from so far away?
He didn’t know how a regular mortal could hear him, but it didn’t prevent disdain from appearing on the disciple’s face. To test if the man could hear him, the disciple continued, “What? Angry? As a man, don’t you feel ashamed relying on a woman?”
Tianyi’s eyes narrowed, and the disciple blinked. He could see that Tianyi had heard him, but that was impossible for a mortal. Still, he didn’t care too much. Just like with Daoyi, the disciple didn’t believe Tianyi had the guts to find trouble with the White Beast Sect.
However, he miscalculated.
Suddenly, a crushing pressure descended onto him. It didn’t cause him to fall onto his knees, but shackled him in place. It felt as if space was constricting all around him, restricting his blood circulation and squeezing his heart. The worst part was that none of his fellow sect members detected anything out of the ordinary.
“Is something wrong?” a junior brother asked.
The disciple felt the pressure disappear. “Did you sense anything weird?”
“Weird, like how?” the junior brother asked. “Is the entrance going to be opened?”
The disciple looked away and looked at the sect elder. The sect elder wasn’t paying attention to him and was looking at the entrance. It was obvious from the elder’s lack of reaction that he had sensed nothing. Otherwise, he would have taken action.
He looked at Tianyi, who curled his lips upward. The disciple never felt the chill of death so close. Even though he was a beast tamer, it didn’t mean he hadn’t experienced any close brushes with death, but none of them could compare to now.
The disciple instinctively knew that the seemingly phoenix man could crush him like a bug with but a thought. Even if he died, it was unlikely that anyone would relate his sudden death to the man. They would never be able to imagine that the seemingly mortal man’s power would be so esoteric. They would only pin the blame on the Untamed Lands.
Perhaps, only the legendary grand elder of the White Beast Sect could accomplish this, the disciple thought. After that, he didn’t dare to laugh at Tianyi and became rather subdued.
***
“I thought you would kill him,” Daoyi said, after petting the Prismatic Scale Worm and letting it retreat.
Tianyi rolled his eyes. “What kind of butcher do you think I am? He only said a few words. Although it’s annoying, it’s not punishable by death. Besides, doesn’t he look much cuter like this? So fearful yet not daring to say anything.”
“Well, I’ve seen people killed for lesser reasons,” Daoyi said, ignoring the latter half of his words.
“Please, this isn’t the apocalypse,” Tianyi said. “If he attacked me, I wouldn’t kill him, but I will make his life hell.”
“And sometimes, you’re worse than the assholes I met there.”
Tianyi sat up. “What, why?!”
The Prismatic Scale Worm raised its head. He immediately retreated. It brought a second round of disdain and punishment. Some of those that felt Tianyi’s terrifying strength attempted to tattle tale, but it was for naught. Everyone believed in their own abilities and didn’t believe that someone could pressure someone so close without them noticing. Not to mention the people Tianyi targeted this time were core formation masters.
Still, this didn’t stop people from making note of the incident. They didn’t pay attention to Tianyi but to Daoyi. In their eyes, it was she who acted out in anger. Some people thought she was too tyrannical for punishing people for saying a few words, but no direct confrontation occurred.
More importantly, it raised their wariness. They didn’t recognize Daoyi or her spiritual beasts. In the end, they thought she was a reclusive expert that finally appeared for the opportunities in the Untamed Lands.
The situation didn’t last long as the entrance to the Untamed Lands opened. The so-called entrance was an opening in the barrier around the forbidden area. As the group closest to the entrance, the White Beast Sect members entered first. None of the other groups said anything. They were long used to the situation.
The only thing of note was a single disciple staring at Tianyi before entering.
Once the members of the White Beast Sect entered, a few established groups entered next. They all stared at Daoyi, making sure that she didn’t want to enter first. Although the order entering the Untamed Lands didn’t matter much, it also represented a force’s influence. For example, the members of the Four Beasts Sects waiting at the other entrance would also enter first.
Only once all the nascent soul beast tamers entered did Daoyi’s army of insects move. The only groups remaining were formed from core formation beast tamers, and they also followed the unwritten rules, letting Daoyi enter. When Daoyi and Tianyi entered, they didn’t wait long and directly flew into the air.
Although other people couldn’t see through the barrier, it couldn’t stop Daoyi or Tianyi’s perception. So they already had a destination in mind.
The people who already entered also started to explore. However, none of them acted as high profile as Tianyi and Daoyi. They could already predict what happened next, and the event in their minds occurred like they expected.
A core formation monster arose out of the thicket of trees and charged at the insect procession. One insect separated and dealt with the lone core formation monster. However, that was the only beginning as more and more monsters arose out of the thickets.
None of the core formation monsters could block Daoyi’s path. However, a kilometer in, a nascent soul monster flew out and rushed toward the group. Like before, an insect from the procession separated and dealt with the pack. Soon, more and more nascent soul monsters flew out. They weren’t alone and accompanied by many master or disciple-level monsters.
All the beast tamers shook their heads when the procession disappeared from sight. Even if they could charge through bravely now, it would be buried under the endless tide of monsters. They weren’t the scariest part, rather the monsters that could think and strategize, demons. These demons were the masters of this land, not them.
Unknown to the native denizens of the Xunshou Realm, Daoyi and Tianyi continued deeper in without trouble. Sure, the number of bug-type spiritual beasts lessened, but it didn’t matter to Daoyi. At the end, only the Prismatic Scale Worm and the hairy tarantula monster survived, and they emanated an aura of a peak nascent soul grandmaster-level monster.
Still, none of the monsters or demons inhabiting the Untamed Land could sense it or the carriage. Daoyi had cloaked them in a sphere of death. Living creatures would be able to instinctively sense other living creatures. Daoyi’s sphere had cut this off. So, they were practically invisible to the other monsters or demons. Even if they saw them, the monsters would only think it was a small bug or insect due to their weak presence.
Their goal was the center of the Untamed Lands, and they arrived before the end of the day. It was only then that they caught sight of the slumbering divine beast.
Tianyi pursed his lips. “This is the so-called divine beast? I mean, I knew it was impossible to be an actual divine beast, but this is just disappointing.”
***
The prismatic scale worm is based on the Antarctic scale worm. Look it up, it’s really kinda cool.
Comments
Vincent Sloan
Tianyi is right, that worm is gross 🫣
Captdeth
30s
