Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: [Unknown]
Chapter Title: Battle with the Wire-Pulling Worm
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By the mountain stream, Chen Shi and Li Tianqing stared at the porcelain fish sunk at the bottom of the water. The two youths looked grave.
They didn't possess Young Master Xiao's formidable magic power, nor did they know this was a demonic transformation. The swimming fish turning into porcelain fish made them realize this was likely caused by that Evil Bodhisattva from the Kiln Works.
"That Evil Bodhisattva—why would it suddenly act up?" Li Tianqing was utterly baffled.
Chen Shi was just about to speak when suddenly a scream rang out. The two hurriedly looked toward the sound. They saw one of the merchants who had been arguing moments ago seemingly yanked by something, whistling up into the sky!
Chen Shi looked up and saw a bizarre insect in the air. It had a humanoid body, but stretched many times longer than a normal person's—like three or four human bodies stitched together. It had seven or eight arm-like long legs, with limbs jointed like bamboo segments.
Its long legs resembled human palms, only with fingers that were exceedingly thin and long.
Its eight long legs spread open in the air, as if it were crouching there, overlooking the crowd below.
Its head was humanoid, but matted with filth and grime. Its mouth gaped open, swiftly pulling the captured merchant closer and stuffing him inside.
The merchant's screams echoed from the air. From the sound, the insect was over a hundred zhang high—this distance left them utterly helpless.
The bizarre insect's mouth opened wide, its mouthparts splitting in four directions, each with sharp teeth beneath the lips—an extremely grotesque sight.
As it devoured the merchant, the surrounding sharp teeth writhed, as if clawing at the man's body, relentlessly shoving it into its belly. It didn't chew, simply swallowing him whole.
Judging by the size of its mouthparts, its head was probably as big as an ox cart.
Li Tianqing said, "That's an Evil—the Wire-Pulling Worm!"
Chen Shi froze. "How is an Evil appearing in broad daylight?"
The sky wasn't dark yet; the sun still hung in the heavens, though veiled in a layer of red gauze.
Grandpa had said Evils could never appear during the day. They absorbed strange power from the moonlight to awaken and roam the human world.
With the moon not yet risen, how had this Evil emerged?
Li Tianqing grew excited and spoke rapidly. "So that's what the Wire-Pulling Worm's true form looks like! The illustrations in books are pretty vague. This kind of bug appears at night—no one's ever seen its full appearance. They only know it floats in the air, and people are often yanked skyward and eaten without seeing a thing! Little Ten, we're the first to see the Wire-Pulling Worm's true body!"
At night, with poor visibility and the Wire-Pulling Worm hiding high in the sky, it was naturally hard to spot.
Some cultivators had strained their eyesight and vaguely glimpsed its insect-like form under moonlight, hence the name Wire-Pulling Worm.
But details remained unclear.
Today, with the sky still bright, its true form was laid bare before their eyes.
Li Tianqing was thrilled beyond measure, scrutinizing the Wire-Pulling Worm nonstop. He muttered, "The books got it wrong. They even drew wings on the Wire-Pulling Worm, but it has no wings! It's an Evil—it hovers in the air. Why would it need wings?"
From the Evil's mouth flew threads so fine they were invisible to the naked eye, dangling downward. They were nearly indistinguishable, only occasionally refracting a glint of sunlight—yet still hard to detect.
Chen Shi and Li Tianqing spotted these threads, hanging right beside the merchants who had been arguing moments before.
"Don't move!"
Chen Shi hurriedly waved at the people and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Whatever you do, don't move!"
But some were already terrified out of their wits. They abandoned their goods and bolted. The moment one moved, he bumped into a thread dangling from the Wire-Pulling Worm.
The thread was incredibly sticky. Upon contact, it adhered to him. The thread triggered, alerting the Wire-Pulling Worm—and the next instant, the man shot skyward!
Li Tianqing also shouted loudly, "Don't run! Stay right where you are!"
But those scared witless wouldn't listen to them.
The people who had been quarreling moments ago scattered in all directions, one after another colliding with the invisible threads.
In the sky, the Wire-Pulling Worm immediately reeled in its threads. Those stuck to them struggled desperately, trying to tear the threads away. But the threads' adhesiveness was astonishing—touch them with your hand, and they stuck to it; brush your body, and they clung there. Impossible to rip off.
Over twenty people from the two merchant caravans, plus the ox-cart drivers, their oxen, and several horses, were all stuck and hauled into the air.
However, with so many people, oxen, and horses caught, the Wire-Pulling Worm strained greatly. Its reeling speed was far slower than before.
Chen Shi's eyes lit up. He suddenly broke into a sprint toward the shore, yelling, "Tianqing, prepare the Six Yin Jade Wheels!"
Though Li Tianqing didn't understand, a Divine Embryo immediately manifested behind his head, powering the Six Yin Jade Wheels.
Chen Shi had already reached the mountain path. He hefted a boulder weighing over a thousand jin, spun his body once, and with a whoosh, hurled it into the air.
Li Tianqing instantly got it and praised, "Smart!"
The boulder brushed an invisible thread from the Wire-Pulling Worm and actually stuck to it, dangling there.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Chen Shi flung boulder after boulder upward, smashing toward the threads in the sky. Soon, he'd thrown all the nearby rocks clean.
Some missed the threads, but most hung from them.
The Wire-Pulling Worm was already struggling with the twenty-plus people and beasts. Adding these boulders overwhelmed it completely—it was yanked downward instead!
Chen Shi dashed about frantically, hunting more massive stones and hurling them one by one onto the threads.
The Wire-Pulling Worm was gradually pulled closer to the ground!
The Evil insect screeched shrilly in the air. Those who'd fallen looked up and could now clearly see the strange markings on the Wire-Pulling Worm's body—yellow and white intermingled, somewhat resembling talisman structures.
With the insect floating in the air, the markings alone made it look like a gigantic talisman.
Only its contents were unknowable.
In mere moments, the Wire-Pulling Worm had been dragged from over a hundred zhang high down to just over ten zhang from the ground—now within range of Li Tianqing's Six Yin Jade Wheels!
Li Tianqing promptly activated Jade Ring Step. His hands flashed through mudras, sending invisible jade wheels slicing toward the Wire-Pulling Worm in the sky!
Meanwhile, Chen Shi lobbed more stones, weighting the threads further and pulling the creature even lower.
The Six Yin Jade Wheels slashed into the Wire-Pulling Worm's body, sparks flying everywhere. The wheels shattered, their fragments whistling outward—razor-sharp!
Li Tianqing varied his techniques, unleashing more and more jade wheels. Some struck the same spot repeatedly, slicing through the Evil's incredibly tough shell. Green pulp oozed from the gashes!
The Wire-Pulling Worm finally crashed to the ground. Only then did its immense size become apparent. Its elongated body stretched over ten zhang, and its seemingly slender legs were actually thicker than roadside trees!
It thrashed its body, sending surrounding trees toppling every which way!
This Wire-Pulling Worm was furious beyond measure. Its eight legs tore violently at the threads.
The threads helped it catch "prey," but they also restrained it.
Fortunately, this Evil possessed astonishing brute strength. In short order, it snapped three or four threads. At that moment, Chen Shi hoisted a massive boulder, leaped high, and smashed it brutally down onto its head!
Thud!
The Wire-Pulling Worm's skull cracked open. It reeled dizzily, while the boulder shattered into pieces.
"Little Ten fights so ferociously!"
Li Tianqing was startled. He waved his hands repeatedly, mudras shifting as jade wheels zinged into the Wire-Pulling Worm's body, carving it open in multiple places.
The Wire-Pulling Worm howled in agony and snapped another thread with a mighty effort.
Chen Shi hefted a thousand-jin boulder, using it like a hammer to madly pummel one of its legs until it snapped.
As he moved to smash another leg, the Wire-Pulling Worm suddenly kicked out, slamming into Chen Shi's chest. The youth streaked away like a phantom, crashing into the cliff wall over ten zhang distant with a massive boom.
"Little Ten!"
Li Tianqing cried out in alarm.
From the dust cloud came Chen Shi's voice: "I'm fine! Kill it first!"
Li Tianqing focused entirely on attacking the Wire-Pulling Worm. But the Evil was simply too huge—even the wounds from the Six Yin Jade Wheels weren't fatal.
Enraged, the Wire-Pulling Worm gaped its mouth and sprayed a blast of white mist. Li Tianqing couldn't dodge in time and was hit. The mist condensed into sticky strands of silk.
"Oh no!"
He lost his footing and was involuntarily yanked skyward toward the Wire-Pulling Worm's maw!
Li Tianqing madly powered his jade wheels, sending them whistling into the creature's mouth!
At the same time, Chen Shi charged back, scooped up a streamside boulder, leaped high, and plummeted down, smashing savagely onto the Wire-Pulling Worm's head.
That head was ox-cart sized, covered in tangled hair. From afar, it looked like a messy mop, but up close, each strand was finger-thick and hard as steel.
Chen Shi's boulder was huge indeed, but it only staggered the Wire-Pulling Worm.
The giant rock split in two. Chen Shi discarded it and rained down punches like a storm!
Thud thud thud thud!
A series of profoundly muffled impacts rang out. He punched through the Wire-Pulling Worm's skull, his arms plunging deep into the Evil's brain matter!
The Wire-Pulling Worm wildly shook its head. Li Tianqing, entangled in threads, was flung about wildly, unable to steady himself. But he desperately powered the Six Yin Jade Wheels, the wheels spinning and rapidly slicing into its mouth!
Suddenly, one jade wheel pierced through the back of the Wire-Pulling Worm's head, finally blowing clean through its skull!
Chen Shi's body was already buried in the Wire-Pulling Worm's head, still hammering away madly.
Finally, with a thud, the Evil collapsed prone. It twitched a few times and went still.
Only then did Chen Shi snap out of his frenzy, gasping raggedly. Li Tianqing, wrapped in threads, rolled on the ground a few times, still shaken to his core. His eyes bulged wide, the manic gleam in them not yet fully faded.
Chen Shi crawled out from the Wire-Pulling Worm's head and tumbled to the ground. He lay there, not wanting to move a muscle.
A fierce hunger gripped him again—like he'd eaten a morsel that whetted his appetite but left him unsatisfied, craving more.
The Wire-Pulling Worm rotted swiftly, foul bubbles erupting from its limbs. Chen Shi scrambled up and away. In mere moments, this massive Evil had decayed completely, leaving only a puddle of foul water on the ground—nothing else.
"Just what the hell are Evils, anyway?"
Chen Shi was deeply puzzled. "Ghosts? Souls? Spirits? Or something else?"
"Evils are Evils—they don't fit into any of those categories."
Li Tianqing, well-read, explained, "Evils are things beyond reason or comprehension. No one knows where they come from or where they go after death. Maybe they've been around since the moment we set foot on the New Continent of West Ox."
Chen Shi thought of the patterns on the Wire-Pulling Worm's body, finding it ever stranger.
The patterns resembled talismans.
"This Evil rotted rapidly after death—no bones, no shell, just some stinking water. Come to think of it, after I smashed Old Man Iron Brush's talisman monster, it dissolved into red cinnabar blood-water, splattered everywhere. Kinda similar to this."
He sighed. "Too bad it rotted so fast. Couldn't note down those talisman patterns."
"I got them."
"Little Ten, what do you want with the patterns on an Evil?" Li Tianqing asked, puzzled.
"To run a test! Blackie Pot, Blackie Pot!"
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