Chapter 175. Stealing Treasure (1/2)
The second devil’s eyes turned red. Without any warning, it charged toward the small creature. The small creature was also fierce; its divine sense flew out and charged forth as well.
The two immediately collided with each other, and due to the divine sense mark Wang Lin had left on the second devil, he was able to immediately notice the change. This confrontation was filled with many dangers as only one of them could exist. It was either the second devil would be devoured or that variant small creature would merge with the second devil.
Soon after, Wang Lin let out a soul. The devils he had made as a soul devourer already contained characteristics of a wandering soul; how could this variant compare?
The two souls began to fuse together and the second devil began to surface. The variant’s divine sense gradually faded until it was completely devoured by the second devil.
A group of small creatures quickly surrounded the second devil and formed the black tornado again. Wang Lin’s eyes lit up. The reason why these small creatures could 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 were related to their nature.
The second devil let out a few cries and was ready to charge toward the variant in another black tornado when Wang Lin let out a cold snort. The second devil immediately stopped. Even the tornado stopped spinning and turned back into countless small creatures.
Wang Lin could clearly see that within the small creatures, the second devil revealed a painful expression with deep fear for Wang Lin in its eyes.
Wang Lin sent out a message. The second devil quickly let out a cry and the surrounding small beasts surrounded Wang Lin. Wang Lin remained calm; his eyes were as calm as water. He didn’t have any reaction toward the small creatures flapping their wings around him.
After those small creatures got close to him, they didn’t attack. Instead, they lifted him up and turned back into a black tornado.
The devil Xu Liguo wanted to follow him in, but he was repelled by the black tornado. He let out a series of roars because he felt very wronged. In the end, it was Wang Lin who reached out and dragged him inside.
While inside the black tornado, he didn’t even have to fly at all; he was standing on a few of the small creatures. Also, he was surrounded by the combined divine senses of all these small creatures, so the ones in other tornados could barely notice him through it.
Wang Lin’s eyes lit up. He gave the second devil an order and the tornado immediately flew toward where Hunchback Meng was. When he did that, the rest of the tornados followed. Soon, the ten tornados arrived at where all the other tornados were gathering.
When they got close, a powerful divine sense went past them. Wang Lin became alert, but the divine sense didn’t stop and just swept past them.
The divine sense clearly didn’t observe closely; it only took a glance and found nothing wrong.
Maybe in its view there couldn’t be any abnormality in the tornado. Wang Lin stared at the king tornado and sneered in his heart. Needless to say, that divine sense definitely belonged to the variant inside the king tornado.
He already had some understanding of these small creatures. In every single tornado, there was a more powerful variant inside. They were the ones that allowed the small creatures to merge their divine senses and gave orders.
This was like the difference between generals and soldiers. The normal small creatures were soldiers, the more powerful variants were generals, and the one in the tornado that seemed to reach the heavens was the king.
After getting close, Wang Lin could see that among this giant cluster of tornados, there was a sky high black tower. Hunchback Meng must’ve been inside.
Wang Lin wasn’t in a rush. The reason he asked the second devil to bring him here was because he realized that he could get close without being noticed. He acted based on the opportunities given. He didn’t think he could kill Hunchback Meng, but he wanted to use this chance to steal some treasures.
The divine sense mark left inside the second devil was different from the one left inside the devil Xu Liguo. The devil Xu Liguo was cultivated for a very long time, so Wang Lin’s divine sense mark was deeply ingrained in him. In fact, Wang Lin wouldn’t even need his Ji Realm, all he needed was but a thought to destroy Xu Liguo. However, in normal circumstances, he wouldn’t use the mark he had left to attack. He kept it as his last resort.
He normally used his Ji Realm to threaten and the mark to secretly manipulate. After all, Xu Liguo had recovered some of his memories, making him very different from wandering souls.
But the second devil was different. Although Wang Lin’s mark on the second devil wasn’t deep, he took the initiative at the start to make it so the second devil wouldn’t ever dare to rebel.
The reason Wang Lin stopped the second devil from merging with more of the variant creatures inside the other tornados was because he was afraid the fusion would dilute his divine sense mark. This would cause problems. With Wang Lin’s cunning, there was no way he would let something like that happen.
When even someone as tenacious as Xu Liguo was completely tamed by Wang Lin, there was no way a devil created from a simple beast could be a match.
Hunchback Meng’s face was as gloomy as mud water as he looked bitterly at the tornados outside. He paid special attention to the largest tornado with a look of dread on his face. The divine sense inside the largest tornado was as powerful as all the other tornados’ combined. It was able to use just its divine sense to push his heaven-destroying poison far away.
During this time, he had used up all of the spirit beasts inside his bag of holding. Although the techniques he used after using a spirit beast as a substitute was able to kill a lot of them, more creatures quickly arrived.
It was impossible to kill them all!
And if he made a mistake, then he would be hit by the combined divine senses of all those small creatures. Even though he was a Soul Formation cultivator, this would still injure him.
This wouldn’t be a light injury but a major injury that could cause his cultivation to drop greatly.
As for treasures, he had also used quite a few. Although they had some effect, the result was the same.
At this moment, he had reached the end of his rope. It was not that he hadn’t considered charging out; he had already tried doing so. That time, he used more than ten spirit beasts as substitutes, but just as he was about to break through the siege, the largest tornado hit him. Not only did it prevent him from leaving, it also injured him.
Hunchback Meng bitterly thought, “Could the heavens want me dead? I have already defied the heavens as I cultivated and finally reached the mid stage of Soul Formation. I originally thought I could use this cultivation to get a Soul Transformation pill and reach the Soul Transformation stage in one go, but…” He couldn’t help but think back to 1000 years ago when the last group came. Everyone but them four died.
There were many people among them that had higher cultivation levels than they did, but they all died. The four of them only survived due to sheer luck.
After 1000 years of preparation, he was able to increase his cultivation level from late stage Nascent Soul to mid stage Soul Formation. The reason he was able to increase his cultivation so fast was because he consumed one of the Giant Demon Clan’s major treasures, the Ancestral Demon Heart!
This was also why he was wanted and being hunted by the Giant Demon Clan!
Hunchback Meng revealed an expression of unwillingness. 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 abandoned him. He watched it grow from a low quality spirit beast to a high quality spirit beast. It was already considered a pseudo desolate beast. If there were some pills to help it, it could truly become a desolate beast in another 1000 years.
But now Hunchback Meng had no other option. He caressed the toad and whispered, “If I could teleport in this damn place, then I wouldn’t be in this situation. Li Tian, this time I’m depending on you!”
As he spoke, his right hand suddenly reached into the toad’s mouth. The toad’s body trembled and it revealed a painful expression. However, it didn’t resist; it only calmly looked at its owner.
Hunchback Meng closed his eyes but quickly reopened them. His eyes were now merciless as he said, with a heavy tone, “Li Tian, I’m sorry!” With that, his right hand viciously pulled back. In his hand was a green core that was emitting powerful spiritual energy fluctuations.
The toad, Li Tian, weakened until fell on its side. It let out a weak croak as all the pustules on its back began to break and leak a foul-smelling black liquid that covered its body. Even its croaking had no real strength behind it anymore.
Without any 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 a few roars as all the pustules on his face broke. Black liquid shot out everywhere and released black smoke as it landed on the walls.
There are many levels of cores in a spirit beast, but only when a creature reaches spirit beast level does a true core form. Although some variants also have cores, those are just fakes. They are just formed by their spiritual energy and used as storage.
A real core is very different as they are the basis for all of that beast’s techniques. When a beast reaches low quality spirit beast rank, an earth core similar to that of a Core Formation cultivator’s core is formed. However, it is still very different from the core of a Core Formation cultivator.
When they become mid quality spirit beasts, their earth cores turn into heaven cores, and when they become high quality spirit beasts, their heaven cores turn into origin cores, only one step away from a desolate beast’s origin soul!
Only when they reach desolate beast rank do their origin cores turn into origin souls. At that point, they truly become powerful desolate beasts.
The black gas on Hunchback Meng became even denser as he lied on the ground and grabbed the toad. After grabbing the toad, he pressed it against his forehead.