Chapter 624 - 561: All That is Dark and Evil, All Within

Chapter 624: Chapter 561: All That is Dark and Evil, All Within

Huuuh...

Chu Mu let out a long, turbid breath.

At this moment, as he looked out again at the Desert Sea Heaven and Earth, a clear trace of worry had appeared between his brows.

Although his series of deductions lacked much in the way of concrete evidence, there was no doubt that this theory offered a perfect explanation for all the mysteries and oddities he had encountered since entering the Ruins Cave Mansion.

However, if he had a choice, he would rather his theory be wrong.

Sand-tailed Scorpion Mother...

Just those four words were enough to weigh upon any Cultivator like a great mountain crashing down.

To say nothing of being in the very place where the Sand-tailed Scorpion Mother was suppressed.

Not only were they being forced to act like moths to a flame, but there was also a high chance that a major flaw had appeared in this place of suppression...

"Fellow Daoist?"

Seeing Chu Mu remain silent for so long, Qin Zhaoxue couldn’t help but ask.

Only then did Chu Mu seem to snap out of his heavy thoughts.

Just then, a will abruptly emerged. A blot of darkness, like thick ink, appeared in the sky. It rushed from far to near, and in the space of a few breaths, it was a mere few hundred yards away.

And now, under the control of that will’s fluctuations, the Sand-tailed Scorpion body they were hiding in, just like the other scorpions around them, began to swarm madly toward that patch of darkness.

The inky blackness roiled like a tide of Ghost Qi. Every wisp and strand of Ghost Qi formed an Illusion of some grotesque, ghastly monster.

Any Sand-tailed Scorpion that surged forward and touched these monsters was like a sheep entering a tiger’s den. They were devoured alive by the ghoulish Illusions, their bodies melting into the dark Ghost Qi.

"Get out of my way!"

A furious roar exploded from within the Ghost Qi. The dark, baleful clouds churned and transformed, instantly forming a towering, dark giant hundreds of feet tall.

The giant was wreathed in ghostly figures, but one could vaguely discern its form to be that of a burly, strapping man.

The giant raised its hand and clenched its fist. A massive hammer, condensed from ghostly matter yet glinting with a cold, metallic sheen, came crashing down.

Following a world-shaking boom, a huge crater appeared in the yellow sand as dust flew everywhere. Within a radius of hundreds of yards, all Sand-tailed Scorpions were instantly annihilated without a trace.

The giant’s target was now clear. Its gaze instantly locked onto the white stone stele that shot toward the sky like a sword.

The giant leaped, covering the distance of several hundred yards in what seemed like a single step.

BOOM!

With another thunderous roar, the giant landed in a half-crouch before the stele. At almost the exact same moment, the stele rippled and flickered, and a third line of mysterious text appeared upon it.

"Xie Zang: Scorpion Egg matured."

The moment the text appeared, the previously calm and towering stele seemed to tremble abruptly. Immediately after, a faint, milky-white light emerged.

At this moment, as if summoned by something, the giant began to dissipate, visible to the naked eye. It finally reverted to the form of a powerfully built, burly man standing before the stele.

Simultaneously, the soft, white fluorescence condensed into a palm-sized Jade Talisman, which landed in the burly man’s hand.

Looking greatly relieved, the burly man activated the Jade Talisman. It shot out a blinding ray of light that struck the towering Mountain Protection Array behind the stele.

Under the fluorescent light’s effect, the majestic Mountain Protection Array visibly rippled, and a portal appeared.

The burly man took a step forward and vanished into the portal.

The instant he entered, the portal disappeared without a trace, as if it had never been there at all.

Once the burly man was gone, the rampaging Sand-tailed Scorpion Swarm seemed to lose its target again, instantly growing calm once more.

This entire scene was, of course, clearly witnessed by Chu Mu and his companion.

The two exchanged a look of mutual understanding. The next moment, their Seamless disguises slowly faded away.

The connection to the will’s fluctuations was severed, and the effects of the Heavenly Deceit Pill wore off.

The very instant their respective Divine Soul Auras were exposed...

ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

Without exception, the countless Sand-tailed Scorpions that had just quieted down went berserk again. Their bestial eyes, devoid of any divine light, instantly locked onto the two figures hovering in the air.

ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

The bestial roars echoed endlessly, filled with rabid fury. Yet, looking at the surging tide of scorpions, one could see no emotional fluctuations befitting a living creature.

There was only an almost indifferent numbness. Every single Sand-tailed Scorpion was like this!

"Arise!"

Chu Mu let out a low shout. As his green robes fluttered, he raised his hand, and a wisp of Crimson True Flame appeared, hovering over his palm.

Though it was just a single, searing crimson wisp, it felt as heavy as a great mountain. The moment the True Flame appeared, the space around it seemed to burn and warp. Within a radius of hundreds of yards, the dozens of Sand-tailed Scorpions charging toward them seemed to spontaneously combust. With every step they took, the crimson flames erupting from their Demon Bodies grew more intense.

The distance of a few hundred yards became a forbidden zone for living things. In just a few breaths, these dozens of Sand-tailed Scorpions visibly transformed from flesh and blood into fine ash that scattered into the yellow sand.

And in Chu Mu’s palm, that crimson wisp continued to twist and change, as viscous as magma, as scorching as the blazing sun.

This time, Chu Mu held back none of his Magical Power. He poured all of his boundless Essence, Qi, and Spirit into the coalescing, evolving wisp of Crimson True Flame in his hand.

The True Flame surged. As Chu Mu’s arm slowly moved sideways, a Flaming Long Saber, forged entirely from Crimson True Flame, gradually took shape before him.

The moment the Flaming Long Saber formed, a blade’s cry seemed to echo from the void. A flash of moonlight appeared, and another chilling blade manifested, aligning itself with the Flaming Long Saber, one above, one below.

"Combine!"

Chu Mu shouted!

Sword Intent and True Flame—two vessels, two powers—fused together once more at this moment, an almost long-forgotten combination.

The Three-foot Blade hung in the sky, crimson and silver light intertwining. Space itself warped, and under this terrifyingly destructive power, the illusory realm seemed unable to bear the strain, collapsing in large swathes.

And what lay beyond the collapsing space seemed to further confirm Chu Mu’s theory.

This space was indeed not a real world, but merely an illusory manifestation.

Behind the collapsing space was not the expected Spatial Turbulence, but a blinding, brilliant golden light. The golden light was boundless, surging like a tide.

But when Chu Mu probed it with his Divine Sense, the endless golden light vanished without a trace, as if it were a hallucination. An invisible, great power seemed to emerge, and in an instant, the shattered, collapsing space was repaired to its original state, showing no signs of abnormality.

Chu Mu’s brow furrowed slightly. He thought for only a moment before his gaze once again settled on the endless Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide before him.

’Form a Scorpion Egg, nurture a Scorpion Egg, mature a Scorpion Egg...’

A glint in his eyes, Chu Mu slowly raised his hand and made a grasping motion. The three-foot Long Saber, interwoven with crimson and silver, settled into his palm.

He raised the blade high, then slowly brought it down.

It was a very ordinary-looking slash, without even much of a Magical Power fluctuation.

But the instant the blade fell completely...

BOOM!

With a thunderous roar, sand filled the sky and dust flew. A trench stretching for hundreds of yards spread wantonly across the sea of sand.

Wherever the gash from the blade spread, countless Sand-tailed Scorpions were annihilated.

At this moment, however, Chu Mu paid no mind to the results of his attack. Instead, he closed his eyes, and his Divine Sense instantly focused on the glaring crimson mark on his wrist.

In his perception, this "Scorpion Egg" on his wrist was like a black hole. The moment his blade annihilated the scorpions, the black hole unleashed an indescribably terrifying suction force.

It seemed that from every Sand-tailed Scorpion annihilated by the power of his strike, a wisp of a Residual Soul emerged.

Under the effect of this terrifying suction, countless "Residual Souls" were devoured by this black hole.

That single slash had annihilated at least several hundred Sand-tailed Scorpions.

And the Scorpion Egg on his wrist, as if it had just consumed some great tonic, projected a feeling of near-satiation, accompanied by the joy of growth, clearly into Chu Mu’s perception.

Chu Mu raised an eyebrow. To perceive the Scorpion Egg’s existence so easily was clearly not what he had expected.

’After all, this Scorpion Egg, both when it was forming and after it appeared, had remained completely undetectable no matter how I tried to sense it.’

’And now, I can perceive its changes so easily, so clearly...’

His surprise lasted only an instant. The next moment, Chu Mu’s gaze hardened, and he made a decision.

His Divine Sense became like a blade. With a flash of sharpness, he unhesitatingly seized this perceptual opportunity to plunge it into the Scorpion Egg’s interior.

But in the next instant, Chu Mu looked as if he had been struck by lightning, his face suddenly turning deathly pale.

His eyes, nose, mouth, ears...

...all began to ooze trickles of blood!

But this oozing blood was not the normal crimson; it was a mottled, inky black.

And the moment the blood seeped out, it turned to black ash and scattered away.

"Hhhh..."

Chu Mu took a deep, shuddering breath and let it out slowly. His breathing was heavy, as if he had just endured an unspeakable terror, yet also held a trace of relief at having survived.

An instant is a very, very short time.

But in the Cultivation Immortal Realm, an instant can sometimes be very, very long.

He had seized the opportunity to break into the Scorpion Egg and peer inside for only an instant!

But in that instant, that single moment, it felt as if a single glance lasted ten thousand years...

He saw countless living beings, countless races, all turned into a Corpse Mountain Blood Sea, transformed into nourishment for the Sand-tailed Scorpion Mother to propagate and heal.

Countless Resentful Souls roared in indignation, countless severed limbs and broken bodies, countless Corpse Mountain Blood Seas piled high...

Ghastly white bones paved the land, rivers of blood flowed like great rivers, and Resentful Ghosts and Evil Spirits roamed the world...

It seemed... as if all the darkness and evil in the world was contained within that single Scorpion Egg...

...