novelraw Chapter 139 : Either Dead or Alive
Chapter 139 : Either Dead or Alive
"You've got to be kidding. How can there be a Nascent Soul stage demon beast in this secret realm??"
"Tell my mother she doesn't need to wait for me to come home for dinner tonight."
All the disciples' faces turned ashen. The highest cultivation among them was only mid Nascent Soul stage. To suddenly encounter a Nascent Soul stage demon beast, wasn't this coming to claim their lives??
The appearance of this giant octopus sea beast made other sea beasts instinctively retreat from this area of the sea.
The situation had become a hundred times more difficult than before.
The sky was dark, the rain poured heavily, and the waves surged. One attack after another came frantically. Although the disciples were at a disadvantage in terms of strength, they were after all the cream of the crop from the major sects. After adjusting their mindset, they all counterattacked.
Si Kou Qiu retreated to the back, condensing a five-layered colorful lotus at her fingertip. It quickly transformed into thousands of petals covering all the disciples present, forming a large domain. Within the domain, the cultivators' speed and power were greatly enhanced. Colorful sword lights clashed violently in the air, sword energy raising thousands of huge waves.
The Long Yuan Sword Spirit manifested. Mo Qingchen and the Tianyan Sect disciples formed a sword formation. Thousands of sword shadows cut through the sky, falling directly towards the demon beast.
The Eight Trigrams Sect and Alchemy Sect disciples also threw talismans and magical tools as appropriate. For a time, the scene was extremely chaotic, with various spells flying about.
The octopus sea beast's attacks were exceptionally fierce and intense, but each time they fell just short. These damned cultivators, like well-trained loaches, always managed to dodge the attacks. Not only could it not catch a single one, but it was hit from all sides by their attacks, letting out angry roars.
Although the cultivators' attacks couldn't cause much damage to it, they irritated it. Long-term hunger drove it to try to quickly catch a few human cultivators to fill its stomach. Its hundred-meter-long tentacles slammed down hard towards one side.
"Boom—"
Huge waves splashed several hundred meters high. Ge Xiang, the little junior sister from the Beast Taming Sect, was almost blown into the sea by this terrifying attack. She swayed unsteadily on her flying sword, barely stabilizing herself. But she didn't notice the huge black shadow suddenly appearing on the sea surface below. The surface broke open as a long tentacle flew out, sweeping towards her.
"Ah!"
Ge Xiang was the youngest and weakest in the group, having rarely experienced major secret realm trials. She hadn't expected this secret realm to be so dangerous. When the tentacle came at her, her pupils dilated, her blood ran cold, and she froze in place as if unable to move.
"Watch out!" Chu Sang, not far from her, almost instinctively flew on her sword towards her, pushing her away a hundred meters.
But the octopus seemed to lock onto her. Its huge, long tentacle slammed her down hard. Towering waves instantly blocked everyone's view.
"Gulp......"
Chu Sang's vision went black. The noisy, chaotic sounds from outside instantly disappeared. Her whole body slid down like a slide, rapidly washed down by the water flow.
"Little Junior Sister!" Tantai Ming wanted to rush over but was immediately stopped by Mu Chihuai.
"What are you doing? Little Junior Sister was swallowed by that damned demon beast!" he shouted angrily.
The anxiety on Mu Chihuai's face was no less than his. "I saw it too, but don't you know your own limits? If you go over, you'll just be giving the demon beast another meal, nothing else."
Si Kou Qiu said, "Have faith in Little Junior Sister. She won't die so easily. If it's really dangerous, she can crush her token to teleport out of the secret realm."
In adverse situations full of dangers, especially in these ancient secret realms where one couldn't guard against everything, although the elders would set up many challenges for them to train in, they didn't want these promising seedlings to be lost in the secret realm. So they had given them tokens in advance. As long as they encountered danger, they could crush the token to immediately teleport themselves out of the secret realm to avoid mishaps.
Little Junior Sister was so clever, she wouldn't come to harm.
The most important thing now was for them not to be like the calabash brothers rescuing their grandfather, sending themselves one after another.
"This grand competition is too strict, isn't it? They actually set up a Nascent Soul stage demon beast? I remember in previous competitions, the strongest demon beasts were only at the Nascent Soul stage at most......" Many cultivators outside were shocked by this scene, somewhat doubting their lives.
"Chu Sang was swallowed by that demon beast. She won't die, will she?"
"Not sure," someone answered rigorously. "I guess, if she's not dead, then she should be alive."
"If nothing unexpected happens, something unexpected has happened."
"......"
You've really mastered the art of stating the obvious.
Ten years ago, that is, the winning sect of the last sect grand competition was the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, so the organizer of this sect grand competition was also the Ten Thousand Swords Sect. Seeing the situation, the Ten Thousand Swords Sect Master hurriedly had disciples bring over the soul lamps of the participating disciples.
All disciples had left a soul lamp before participating in the competition, used to check on their condition.
If the soul lamp went out, it meant that disciple's soul had been destroyed and they had perished.
Seeing that all the disciples' soul lamps were still steady, including Chu Sang's which hadn't gone out, the Ten Thousand Swords Sect Master and several elders finally breathed a sigh of relief. They had finally become hosts once, and they didn't want such a thing to happen on their turf.
However...... had they arranged for a Nascent Soul stage demon beast this time?
The Ten Thousand Swords Sect Master also felt something wasn't quite right and planned to go discuss this matter with the other sect masters and elders.
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Chu Sang, having been swallowed by this giant octopus, wasn't very panicked. After all, she could directly crush her token to escape. But that would also mean giving up her qualification for the competition.
So she didn't act rashly. After sliding along the long esophagus to a certain place, she stopped sliding and carefully observed the inside of this demon beast's belly.
Previously in the Twelve Demon Caves of the demon race, she had also been swallowed by a stone beast. Once bitten, twice shy—she was used to it.
The defense of that stone beast had been so terrifying, yet hadn't she blasted through it with one shot?
Although this octopus was at the Nascent Soul stage, the defense of such aquatic soft-bodied demon beasts was very weak. To blast through it a second time with a cannon wasn't impossible.
She vaguely felt that this demon beast's body was gradually sinking, probably having returned to the sea. If she rashly went out now, she would face attacks from more sea beasts, which would be troublesome and time-consuming to deal with, not worth the effort.
Either way, she wasn't in danger of being digested for now, so she simply sat cross-legged in the demon beast's stomach, letting Xiao Bai use its Netherworld Transformation skill to go out and scout the situation.
—That giant octopus was taking her to dive into the deep sea bottom.
This demon beast's lair should be here.
This giant octopus was a powerful Nascent Soul stage demon beast, basically one of the top powers in the secret realm. There were no other sea beasts disturbing its lair nearby, so Chu Sang decided to make her move after it returned to its lair.
She fired one blast.
The earth shook and the mountains swayed, crashing about left and right.
It didn't blast open.
She clicked her tongue. This demon beast's defense was a bit stronger than she had imagined. Then...... she could only use that move.
At this time, on the light screens in the outside venue, each disciple had a light screen recording them.
Chu Sang wasn't dead, so her screen was still lit, moving along with her position.
However, since she had been swallowed into the demon beast's belly, the screen was pitch black. Nothing could be seen clearly, nor could they see what her current situation was.
Everyone outside was holding their breath.
The darkness was pierced like dawn breaking, tearing open a blood-red scene. Endless flames burned fiercely within the seawater, illuminating the dark and eerie sea area.
And that Nascent Soul stage octopus, being too clever for its own good, had its vulnerable belly directly pierced through.
Chu Sang broke out through the hole, looking quite disheveled. The firelight illuminated her face, yet it was irresistibly eye-catching.
"How did she get out? That was a Nascent Soul stage demon beast, wasn't it? Did she directly stab through it??"
"It was too dark just now, I couldn't see clearly how she moved......"
Darkness and flames alternately covered the scene. Embers sizzled as they burned the octopus's huge body. The cultivators outside might not have seen clearly how that step just happened, but Chu Sang knew very well in her heart. That strike of peak Nascent Soul stage demonic energy had turned this octopus into octopus skewers.
Fortunately, she had unleashed the demonic energy inside the octopus's belly just now, so the outside world couldn't see this scene. The remaining demonic energy was quickly washed away by the turbulent seawater.
To avoid fainting and embarrassing herself again, Chu Sang quickly fed herself a bunch of pills and cultivated on the spot for a moment. Then she swam to the octopus's corpse.
Chu Sang rather missed octopus balls, spicy grilled octopus skewers, and stir-fried octopus, but this octopus was too big. Her storage ring couldn't fit it all, so she couldn't waste the golden core.
She dug out the golden core and gave it to Hong Niang to eat, just right to help Hong Niang, who was at the peak of Nascent Soul stage, make a push for the Nascent Soul stage.
"Master, is this for me?" Hong Niang was flattered as she accepted this golden core, feeling very moved.
"Mm, there are no sea beasts disturbing this place. You take the golden core and try to break through to Nascent Soul right here. There will be more things that need your help later!"
Hong Niang nodded excitedly, thinking she truly hadn't followed the wrong master. She didn't stand on ceremony either, swallowing this golden core full of vigorous demonic energy. The unbearable demonic energy washed through her meridians, making her face a bit pale.
Chu Sang had the experience of helping Third Senior Brother break through before. She directly took out the spirit stone coffin and had Hong Niang lie in it.
With the nourishment of the purest spiritual energy, the success rate of the demon beast's breakthrough would be greatly increased.
Finally, after a full five days and five nights, Hong Niang's demonic energy suddenly became thick and powerful. She opened her eyes, let out a breath, and reached early Nascent Soul stage.
"I'm sorry, Master. I've delayed you for so long, holding back your progress." She hurriedly got up, not expecting so much time to have passed.
Chu Sang smiled confidently, "Don't worry, we'll catch up right away!"
"Eh?"
During these five days, Chu Sang hadn't been idle. She had searched the surrounding sea area thoroughly with her divine sense.
She hadn't known before searching, but the search really excited her.
It turned out that the space-time rift they had been looking for so long was near this demon beast's lair. This could be considered a blessing in disguise.
This space-time rift was hidden in an extremely secluded place. It would be too dangerous for her senior brothers and sisters to come over, and it would waste too much time. So after telling them she was fine via the jade disc, Chu Sang didn't have them rashly come over. Instead, she planned to seal this space-time rift by herself.
"Master, I can help you," Hong Niang said eagerly, wanting to show off her skills.
Xiao Bai also said happily, "Me too, I'm very powerful too. I can also help Master!"
The two spirit weapons also flew out. They not only had a contract relationship of spirit weapon and master with Sang-sang, but were also companions for life, the most intimate partners.
One person, two beasts, and two spirits worked together to repair the rift. That familiar feeling came again.
Another mountain-moving and sea-filling.
The sea area disappeared, and she arrived at an unfamiliar cave.
There were traces of someone having lived in the cave, but it was a long time ago. A thick layer of dust had settled on the simply arranged stone table and chairs.
On the table, only a few books were placed.
She paused, walking over.
Things left from ten thousand years ago were truly too fragile. Merely being brushed by the wind from her passing footsteps, these few books quickly turned to dust and scattered, leaving no trace.
"Master, there's something here!"
Chu Sang heard Xiao Bai's voice and went over to look. She found an ancient wooden box in the corner.
It should be an item left by the owner of this cave.
It's not very good to rummage through other people's things without permission. What if she came across something she shouldn't see...... Xiao Bai ran over first, opening the box ahead of her.
She had no choice but to follow. She didn't see any personal belongings left by the previous owner.
The box was empty, with nothing much in it, only a tattered map fragment.
Chu Sang tentatively picked it up to look. The map fragment didn't turn to dust like the books just now...... The more she looked, the more familiar it seemed. A flash of inspiration struck her mind. She rummaged through her storage ring, finally digging out a map fragment she had obtained before from a corner. Comparing the two, they seemed to match.
Could this be the same scroll map??
Chu Sang began to believe in the karma often talked about in the cultivation world.
Regardless, this was an opportunity she had obtained. After bowing to the desk, Chu Sang put the two map fragments into her storage ring. This time she didn't carelessly toss them into a corner, but stored them properly in the box.
Just as she was about to leave, Xiao Bai pulled her hand again, nodding towards the side. "Master, Master, there seems to be something else over there!"
Chu Sang looked over in that direction but saw nothing.
However, after sweeping the area with her divine sense, her eyes lit up. She walked to a stone wall, reaching out to wipe away a layer of dust attached to it, revealing rows of powerful stone carvings!
With a turn of her wrist, sword energy swept across, raising a clean wind—
The dust accumulated on the stone wall was completely scattered, revealing the characters engraved on it.
The owner of the stone cave must have cultivated here for a long time. All four stone walls were engraved with neat and orderly rows of characters, even with corresponding illustrations and tables.
The first line of large characters read—
"I Was Originally a Sword Immortal"
Was this... a sword technique?
Chu Sang was rarely stunned for a moment. She quickly scanned the rows of engravings on the stone wall. Indeed, it was a complete set of sword techniques, probably the lifelong insights of this "Sword Immortal" predecessor.
The recorded sword technique was complete and vast. Just as she wanted to look deeper, the immense and infinite power in the sword technique made her divine sense throb with pain.
But the more it was like this, the more it proved this was a good thing!
It was impossible to comprehend the sword technique in the remaining half month, and time didn't allow it either. But this didn't prevent Chu Sang, with her innately superb memory, from quickly memorizing the full wall of sword techniques into her sea of consciousness, to study carefully after returning to the sect.
After memorizing all the sword techniques, about another day and night had passed. Her head was dizzy. She quickly swallowed several spirit-replenishing pills. After the medicine's effects took hold, she threw out her flying sword. The sword grew with the wind. She nimbly leapt onto the flying sword and flew out of the cave to regroup with her other senior brothers and sisters.
She had just contacted Seventh Senior Brother. They had found another rift on their side.
But it seemed they had encountered no small trouble.