NOVPUB
Chapter 941 - Corpse Devouring Beast
As the five drew closer to the spatial rift, a powerful force began tugging at them.
The spatial rift was massive, resembling an enormous gorge. Spatial laws from the sacred ground were already leaking through its edges.
Liu Wuxie's group of five began to descend toward the spatial rift.
In the blink of an eye, they were pulled into the spatial rift and swallowed by the swirling chaotic force that disrupted their balance.
Liu Wuxie tried to stabilize his descent, but the force was too overwhelming. With no choice, he could only surrender to the current and let it carry him forward. There was nothing he could do.
Fifteen minutes later, the pressure abruptly vanished.
He was hurled out of the rift and plummeted from the sky. As the ground rushed up to meet him, Liu Wuxie channeled his true essence and executed his movement technique, landing steadily on the barren, cracked terrain below.
Everything in the surroundings was unfamiliar to him, and he was alone. The spatial rift was too vast, and no one could predict where they would land.
Every disciple had been informed about the nature of the spatial rift before entering, marking the beginning of a six-month-long journey of exploration and survival.
"I hope they all landed safely," Liu Wuxie murmured.
Everyone was transported to the sacred ground moments after entering the spatial rift, but some were stuck inside the rift for an entire day.
Liu Wuxie activated Ghost Eye and scanned his surroundings.
"What a strange world!" Before him lay a twisted world where the laws seemed distorted. There wasn't a single intact strand of law here, and it was no wonder those at the Nascent Transformation Realm would be instantly crushed if they tried to enter.
He was walking straight but soon found himself slowly veering off course. The laws here were warped, and adjusting to them would take him time.
After two hours of navigation, Liu Wuxie had adapted to the laws here to some extent.
The distortion isn't too strong, and such an environment also comes with benefits. This place is perfect for cultivating spatial techniques.
Using the map, he scanned his surroundings to determine his location. However, there were no landmarks or structures for him to use as a reference. Barren dunes surrounded him.
Could this be an uninhabited zone?
Only uninhabited zones weren't marked on the map. There was nothing in the surroundings, no vegetation or demonic beasts. Only his footsteps echoed through the desolation.
For those lacking a strong will, prolonged solitude in this place could easily lead to hallucinations.
Time passed slowly, and Liu Wuxie made another peculiar observation: time flowed differently here. One day in the outside world was equivalent to twenty-four hours, but here, a day seemed to stretch to twenty-six hours due to the altered temporal laws.
Crossing through the sandy plain, Liu Wuxie finally spotted a decent-looking building that seemed to have been inhabited in the past. However, it had now collapsed, and only ruins remained as though whispering tales of its former glory.
Liu Wuxie's steps felt heavy when he finally reached the ruins. The building had weathered over time, but he noted the strength of the material used in its construction.
Even after many years, the framework of the entire building was well-preserved, aside from some erosion.
After walking for an entire day, Liu Wuxie's body was sore. It was mainly because the laws here made it hard to adapt. Flight was impossible, which meant he could only rely on his feet to travel.
He rested against a stone wall and began to meditate to recover his true essence.
The spiritual energy in the sacred ground was not particularly strong; it was roughly the same as that in the Southern Province. Moreover, it was growing thinner with the passage of time and would vanish in a few centuries.
The sky had gradually darkened, and Liu Wuxie planned to rest there for the night before resuming his journey the next day. Since he still had no idea where to go, he briefly studied the map and marked the locations of several powerful sects.
As night fell, the temperature began to plummet like winter, and white crystals floated in the sky. Those weren't snowflakes, but compressed air turned to frost.
Liu Wuxie's surroundings had turned into a sea of white in the blink of an eye. He lit a campfire to increase the surrounding temperature slightly. The night was silent, and he could only hear the crackling of flames.
He sat cross-legged beside the campfire and began cultivating. He didn't even bother setting up any defenses in the surroundings. However, he was alarmed by a sudden tremor, as though something was crawling underground. He jumped to his feet and wielded the Heretic Blade, spreading his divine sense out for any potential danger.
Humans had long gone extinct in the sacred ground, but that didn't mean this world was uninhabited. Some creatures thrived in such a harsh environment.
Not far away, a hole suddenly appeared in a wall, and a fleshy head popped out of it. The creature scanned the surroundings with its beady eyes before fixing its gaze on Liu Wuxie.
As their eyes met, Liu Wuxie felt a chill crawl up his spine. Despite the cold, sweat beaded on his palms, and his back was already drenched.
The head was roughly the size of a washbasin, with large mouths and tiny eyes. The grotesque mouth nearly occupied its entire face.
"A Corpse Devouring Beast!" Liu Wuxie murmured coldly. He hadn't expected to run into the Corpse Devouring Beast in this world.
These monsters were fond of feasting on human flesh. They usually fed on corpses—but if a living person crossed their path, they'd gladly turn them into one.
Most importantly, these creatures weren't solitary and often lived in groups.
As if on cue, more fleshy heads emerged from the surroundings. They all looked grotesque when they opened their mouths with razor-sharp fangs lined in their gaping jaws, capable of biting through a human skull in one gulp.
One after another, they crawled out from underground and swarmed toward Liu Wuxie, quickly surrounding him. It had been years since these creatures had feasted on human flesh, as they typically remained underground in a state of hibernation.
But Liu Wuxie had awakened them the moment he set foot in this place.
The Corpse Devouring Beast had no natural predators. Their bodies radiated deathly energy, turning everything around them into barren land.
"Why are there so many Corpse Devouring Beasts here? How did they appear in the sacred ground?!"
Then, a bold hypothesis emerged in Liu Wuxie's mind.
Could these creatures have been the ones to wipe out humanity in this world? Liu Wuxie wondered.
In the grand balance of nature, humans had never been the true apex species. The Corpse Devouring Beasts preyed upon humans, fitting perfectly into a grim food chain. Even if they hadn't directly eradicated humankind, the mass death of humans could have easily nurtured countless of these abominations.
The Corpse Devouring Beasts began to advance toward Liu Wuxie, moving with deceptive speed with their clumsy-looking bodies. This was a sign that they had long since adapted to the twisted laws of this world.
This world was their domain, and Liu Wuxie was the outsider.
"Get lost!" Liu Wuxie swung the Heretic Blade, sending the Corpse Devouring Beasts closest to him flying as white liquid splashed out from their bodies. Their blood was white instead of red.
When the white liquid splattered across the ground, it released a rotting stench.
"What terrifying deathly energy!" Liu Wuxie was inwardly surprised. He began to survey his surroundings for a way out of this horde.
There were too many Corpse Devouring Beasts, and it would take forever for him to kill them.
Worse still, these creatures began to stack atop each other, forming a strange scene as several Corpse Devouring Beasts merged into a colossal version of it.
"A variant!" Liu Wuxie's heart sank. He knew he needed to leave—now.
He hadn't expected these Corpse Devouring Beasts to be capable of stacking together and transforming into a massive one.
There were rumors that a supersized Corpse-Devouring Beast had once existed in ancient times, capable of devouring an entire planet and killing billions in its wake.
"Fiery, come out!" Liu Wuxie yelled. It was time to call upon his companion now that he was on the sacred ground.
With a roar, Fiery emerged from the beast pouch and landed beside Liu Wuxie, unleashing a wave of blazing heat to the surroundings.
The flames instantly lit up the surrounding darkness as Liu Wuxie leaped onto Fiery's back. With a powerful jump, Fiery began galloping into the distance.
All the incoming Corpse Devouring Beasts that lunged at them were split in two by Liu Wuxie. Even after they ran for a long distance, the horde continued to give chase, unwilling to lose their prey now that they had encountered a human after so long.
Liu Wuxie knew this ordeal was far from over, as it felt like the entire ground was infested with Corpse Devouring Beasts. As they fled, more creatures emerged to block his escape route.
"Golden Flame Strike!" Liu Wuxie struck down with the Heretic Blade when the Corpse Devouring Beasts began to stack and merge into a massive version, standing in their way.
A terrifying blade aura flew out and cut down the five-meter-tall Corpse Devouring Beast, with its white blood splattering on the ground. This massive Corpse Devouring Beast was the fusion of over ten others.
Fiery charged on even faster than before, soaring through this barren land like a comet, outrunning the Corpse Devouring Beasts and leaving them behind.
"Over there!" Liu Wuxie used Ghost Eye to survey their surroundings and found a relatively safe place.
Meanwhile, Corpse Devouring Beasts had also emerged in other parts of the world. Over a hundred people had fallen prey to them in just one day. 𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
Yet, more people continued to pour into this world. In addition to disciples of the Heavenly Spirit Celestial Academy, there were disciples from various sects, the four great clans, and numerous other factions.
They lacked a teleportation array connected directly to the sacred ground, which delayed their arrival by a full day.
In just two days, tens of thousands of people had flocked into this world, and the scale was unprecedented.
After running for over two hours, Liu Wuxie finally escaped the horde as Fiery carried him into an ancient forest.
The trees were long dead; bare branches stretched out like bony fingers, and skeletal trunks stood like silent sentinels, resembling zombies rooted in the earth.
Liu Wuxie found it strange that there were no Corpse Devouring Beasts in the area. Still, he remained on guard. The danger in this world was ever-present, and the current calm didn't match the intel he had gathered.
Something in the past five years had altered this world dramatically, reshaping its entire landscape.
Sliding down from Fiery's back, Liu Wuxie expanded his divine sense to the surroundings, scanning for any threats.
Fiery also stayed alert as it trotted to one of the withered trees, casually lifted its hind leg, and relieved itself.
In the blink of an eye, the forest sprang to life. Withered branches intertwined, forming a massive net that ensnared Fiery in an instant.
