Chapter 610 - 548: Whereabouts Unknown

Chapter 610: Chapter 548: Whereabouts Unknown

CLANG!

A flash of light from a blade sliced through the air. A Sand-tailed Scorpion, standing motionless as a statue inside the array, was neatly cleaved in two.

The bisected Demon Body laid the Sand-tailed Scorpion’s internal structure bare for Chu Mu to see.

Ever since setting foot in the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World, Chu Mu had been driven to gain a deeper understanding of its demon-centric Cultivation System, researching everything from Bloodline Divine Techniques to genetic lineages.

To that end, the number of Demon Beasts he had personally dissected and studied, from Tier One to Tier Three, was practically countless.

Although he had only been in this bizarre Desert Sea for a few short days, the number of Sand-tailed Scorpions that had fallen by his hand was already beyond counting.

At least, as far as he could tell, these Sand-tailed Scorpions were unequivocally living creatures.

They had a Sea of Consciousness, Meridians, a bloodline, a Dantian, flesh and blood...

The Sand-tailed Scorpions possessed all the characteristics of living beings.

A Puppet, on the other hand—even a Flesh Puppet, or a true Flesh and Blood Demon Puppet—might show no external abnormalities, but its internal structure would inevitably reveal clear signs of its nature.

After all, a living creature’s power comes from Cultivation—from plundering and refining the Heaven and Earth Energy, gathering that great power within itself.

The source of power for a dead thing like a Puppet, however, is clearly not self-cultivation. It comes from Spirit Stones, from external Energy. And to convert this external Energy into a Puppet’s power, a corresponding system is required.

For instance, Array Prohibition Inscriptions, or Flesh and Blood Demon Patterns...

These things would surely be clear and unconcealable within a Puppet’s body.

Unless, of course, this was a Puppet system beyond his understanding, or its principles were so profound as to be beyond his imagination.

But the problem was... such an endless tide of Sand-tailed Scorpions...

For all of them to be Puppets seemed rather unrealistic...

Chu Mu pursed his lips and gazed up at the heavens. Then, as if a thought occurred to him, he gave a self-deprecating smile.

’Getting to the bottom of things is a good habit, but in a way, it also seems to be the root of all my troubles.’

Any other Cultivator in his situation would have been solely focused on escaping long ago, with no time to ponder these strange anomalies.

Even if they had noticed something was amiss, they would have likely pushed the thought aside to focus on survival. They wouldn’t have had the energy or the insight to perceive the truth, let alone turn the strangeness of the situation to their advantage.

They certainly wouldn’t be like him, fixating on one anomaly after another until it had escalated to this point... a gamble with his very life!

"So be it..."

After a long moment of deliberation, Chu Mu let out a long breath, his gaze turning resolute.

He waved his hand, and the last Sand-tailed Scorpion—the one that had become a lifeless object—instantly disintegrated.

He then looked outside the array again. With a single thought, the churning Nine Dragon Divine Fire Array split open, forming a crack tens of feet long.

Outside, the surging Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide seemed to find a new outlet the moment the crack appeared, and they poured into the array one after another.

"Suppress!"

As if his very words were law, Chu Mu uttered the command. Crimson chains instantly materialized, weaving together to imprison and suppress the dozens of Sand-tailed Scorpions that had just poured inside.

At the same time, the crack in the Grand Array healed shut. Chu Mu took out an Elixir and consumed it, a hint of color returning to his pale face.

Only then did he turn his attention to the dozens of Sand-tailed Scorpions now imprisoned within the array.

Without a doubt, now that the Grand Array’s crack had sealed, the connection between these dozens of Sand-tailed Scorpions and the mastermind behind them had been completely severed.

For now, the creatures were still full of life, but based on the bizarre phenomenon he’d witnessed earlier, it wouldn’t be long before they followed the same path as the others: slowly losing their souls until they became inert, lifeless objects, as if sealed away.

The key to refining a Heavenly Deceit Pill lay in the principle of "live-killing."

In other words, only a living creature could serve as the Spiritual Material for a Heavenly Deceit Pill.

However, after witnessing that strange phenomenon, Chu Mu wasn’t sure if refining the Heavenly Deceit Pill was even possible anymore.

After all, the Heavenly Deceit Pill’s ability to pull off its grand deception lay in completely smelting a living creature’s Essence, Qi, and Spirit into a single Elixir Pill.

When a Cultivator consumed this pill, it was, in a sense, equivalent to a form of Possession!

However, unlike conventional Possession, the roles of the aggressor and victim were reversed.

Possession involved annihilating another’s Divine Soul to forcibly seize their body. The Heavenly Deceit Pill, on the other hand, involved forcibly refining the Elixir Pill made from another’s Essence, Qi, and Spirit, allowing the user to take on the Divine Soul Aura of the refined creature. This created a perfect disguise, achieving an effect of ultimate deception.

And the premise for all of this, of course, was a living creature—not a dead thing like a Puppet.

A dead thing, obviously, could not possess Essence, Qi, and Spirit...

And this Sand-tailed Scorpion before him...

Was it a living creature? Or a dead thing?

Chu Mu wasn’t sure.

After a moment’s contemplation, a wisp of True Flame appeared in his hand.

Chu Mu didn’t dwell on it for too long. If he had to choose, he preferred to believe what was recorded in that Jade Scroll: that this endless tide of Sand-tailed Scorpions was merely a trial.

A test for the Cultivators who entered these Cave Mansion ruins.

If that was the case, then all these bizarre occurrences could, just barely, be explained.

After all, if it was a trial, then the very concept of a "trial" explained a lot.

A trial couldn’t be an entirely hopeless deathtrap. Even in the direst straits, there had to be a sliver of a chance for survival.

"Nine parts death, one part life..."

As if struck by an epiphany, Chu Mu suddenly looked up at the sky.

The scorching sun reigned for nine full days. The endless night descended for nine hours.

In the Cultivation Immortal Realm, nine was the ultimate number.

Nine was supreme.

There were even legends in the Cultivation Immortal Realm of achieving immortality through Nine Revolutions to Immortality.

’Does the number nine hold some deeper meaning here, too?’

As Chu Mu’s thoughts churned, his gaze flickered. The True Flame blazed, and a silvery-white Sand-tailed Scorpion was tinged with its crimson glow.

As time passed, amidst cries of utter despair, the silvery-white Sand-tailed Scorpion was finally reduced to a single, scarlet Elixir Pill.

The True Flame did not die out. Chu Mu waved his hand, and several of the inert Sand-tailed Scorpions nearby were engulfed by the flames. Under the terrifying heat, the Demon Beast corpses instantly melted into Blood Qi. Then, under Chu Mu’s control, the Blood Qi swirled and reformed, taking the shape of a massive Sand-tailed Scorpion body, over a hundred feet long.

The newly formed body was incredibly lifelike, virtually indistinguishable from the one he had just refined into a Heavenly Deceit Pill.

Only then did the Crimson True Flame lingering before Chu Mu finally, slowly, dissipate.

Chu Mu flicked his wrist, and a Round Pearl glowing with brilliant silver light shot into the space between the giant scorpion’s brows. As a silver radiance bloomed from the spot, a faint, almost imperceptible connection seemed to form in the void.

If one were to use Divine Sense Perception now, they would discover that this faint, newly formed connection was remarkably similar to the one between the Sand-tailed Scorpions and the unknown entity pulling the strings.

The only difference was that this simulated connection still lacked the unique aura of a Sand-tailed Scorpion.

It was missing the unique identifier that marked it as one of their kind.

With a thought, Chu Mu caused the artificial Sand-tailed Scorpion’s body to split open, creating a fissure about ten feet long.

Inside was a space just large enough to hold a single person.

Chu Mu raised his hand, and the Heavenly Deceit Pill floated in his palm.

The pill was scarlet, and the tyrannical aura of a Demon Beast emanated clearly from it.

This Heavenly Deceit Pill was, in every conceivable way, identical to those he had refined in the past.

From this perspective, it seemed that the bizarre Sand-tailed Scorpions were, in fact, undeniably living creatures.

Chu Mu studied the pill for a moment before his gaze swept across his surroundings. The Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide still raged, showing no signs of thinning despite his recent days of bloody slaughter. It was no different from when he had first arrived.

As far as the eye could see, every Sand-tailed Scorpion was like a cold, killing machine. They clearly possessed the aura of a living being, yet they showed no flicker of emotion.

Cold. Indifferent.

The majestic Ancient Tower stood tall, the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Array holding this ground. Even as they marched to their deaths wave after wave, the scorpions showed not a hint of retreat, not a trace of fear.

Like living creatures... yet not...

Chu Mu looked up at the sky. The final destination of that subtle, unseen connection was this very same bizarre sky.

It was as if the legendary Sand-tailed Scorpion Mother was right there, high up in the sky, looking down upon all creation, indifferently watching him, the foreign invader.

It... also showed no emotional fluctuations. In fact, whether it was even the Sand-tailed Scorpion Mother at all was highly uncertain.

"A trial..."

Chu Mu murmured, his once-hesitant gaze slowly hardening with resolve.

With a flick of his sleeve, he popped the scarlet pill from his palm into his mouth. As the Elixir Pill entered his stomach and its Medicinal Power erupted, Chu Mu stepped forward and vanished into the belly of the giant Sand-tailed Scorpion.

The fissure contracted, visibly and slowly healing shut.

In the end, a majestic, silvery-white Sand-tailed Scorpion stood tall within the Grand Array.

Simultaneously, the majestic Nine Dragon Prison Suppression Tower, which had been standing outside, began to ripple with crimson light. The towering Ancient Tower, hundreds of feet tall, rapidly shrank and spiraled downward. In just a few breaths, it transformed into a streak of crimson light that shot into the Divine Fire Array and vanished.

In the vast Desert Sea, amidst the endless Beast Tide, the imposing presence of the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Array was gone.

It was just that, without the Nine Dragon Prison Suppression Tower serving as its core, the Mighty Power of this Nine Dragon Divine Flame Tower plummeted by several levels. The all-consuming terror it previously held was completely gone.

The surging Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide continued its relentless assault. Only a small fraction were annihilated by the Grand Array’s refinement; the vast majority brandished their sharp claws, their ceaseless attacks raining down upon the majestic formation.

In just a few short breaths, the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Array—which had stood for days like a world-ending grindstone, annihilating countless Sand-tailed Scorpions—began to visibly crumble.

Just as the Grand Array was about to shatter, it seemed to experience a final resurgence. The dimming crimson light suddenly flared, an almost blinding radiance that, in a single instant, stained the entire sky red.

The countless Sand-tailed Scorpions surging forward were instantly obliterated by this sudden outburst.

Immediately, the crimson radiance raced outward, expanding from a radius of a thousand feet to two thousand, then three thousand...

It expanded as if someone were blowing it up like a balloon!

As it expanded, the already scorching and terrifying Crimson True Flame took on a distinctly more violent aura.

When the expansion reached a critical point, the spreading crimson light seemed to shudder abruptly. And then...

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The roar shot straight into the heavens!

The Nine Dragon Divine Fire Array had actually detonated.

The Crimson True Flame, which had swelled like a balloon, rose up like a giant Fireball!

A rain of fire erupted across the sky. For miles around, everything was a blazing crimson. The yellow sand melted, turning into shimmering crystals. Countless charging Sand-tailed Scorpions were instantly annihilated, their ashes fusing with the molten earth.

Blood, the smell of burning, a rain of fire...

A terrifying scene, a veritable Hell on earth, had descended upon the Desert Sea.

But at the center of the former array, the epicenter of the Fireball’s blast, there was nothing but a bottomless, scorched crater stretching for thousands of feet. Chu Mu, the target of the Sand-tailed Scorpions’ relentless assault, was nowhere to be found...

His whereabouts were unknown...

...