524 He Who Devours a God
"It's strange…" Dao Shen spoke, muttering to himself, but loud enough for the rest to hear him.
"What is strange?" asked Zhang Tian.
"The fact that the Fire Lord was able to stop her ladyship's Soul Speech… that's not something even I can do, and I specialize in Soul Dao, just like her ladyship…"
"Nothing is strange about that," Meng Hao's eyes opened up as he spoke. His cultivation was damaged, and his entire body seemed riddled with cracks from the flames of the Phoenix.
"What do you mean, Meng Hao," Dao Shen replied.
"He knew, from the start, he knew everything…" Meng Hao said, frustration clear in his eyes.
"I had my doubts, but this confirms it, the Fire Lord saw through our disguise and didn't even act, he didn't care that I wasn't the real Minor Spear, he didn't care, that I took the incense bowl, he didn't care that we escaped or harmed his general… he only acted, when she showed up," Meng Hao said.
"You mean, we were already exposed…" Dao Shen said.
"Yes," Zhang Tian was the one who replied here, "Probably since the moment we set foot on his territory, we were already revealed and exposed," He added
"But why didn't he act?" asked Dao Shen.
"Because it didn't profit him in any way, only now will it do so," Master Rain said.
"I don't follow," Dao Shen said shaking his head.
"It's a trap, a trap to lure the Queen…" Zhang Tian said. "He wanted to lure Mother out if he had taken me hostage, he probably feared that I might try and end my life to stop her from coming over, or maybe that we have some form of treasure to escape, so he orchestrated this chase, these three years chase to corner us and have a word of our escape spread through the Vast Expanse and reach her ears, only then will she come forward, since we'll seem to have a chance to escape if she arrives," Zhang Tian said.
"She must have realized it too," Master Rain said, "She probably knows it's a trap and she still came over…"
"Shouldn't we help her then?" asked Dao Shen.
"How can mere ants intervene in the fight of giants, we'll be nothing but a burden, even Master Rain can't intervene now, if you remember, the Fire General paid an arm to weaken him," Zhang Tian said.
"We'll have to trust in her power, that she'll escape after securing our rout of retreat…" Master Rain said.
***
"Pests," I spoke as I cut through the seventh or eighth parasite that was rushing at me.
These things are surprisingly weak… no, it's not just that, I grew disgustingly stronger… Though I'm still at the peak of the Ascendant Stage… I'm more than capable of fighting off against a mid-rank King Class. But, even though I grew stronger, I'm still weak in terms of cultivation level.
My body had fully healed up, and I understand far more about the Path of Poison than I ever did before.
Dare I say that my understanding of the twelve books is the same as Du Shen's when he finished writing them?
Dao, cultivation, sword, death, poison, alchemy, soul, carnage, devouring, Body, Law, and inscription.
Dare I say, I've learned all there is in this hundred years, enough to say that it would normally take a dozen lifetimes of cultivation, I learned the path of poison. But, I cannot use even a fraction of it, not because of my lack of understanding.
But because I lack the power needed to fully display them.
My body, which had stopped growing for a hundred years as I satiated my mind with knowledge. Now, it's the time to grow and there is one way to do it.
This giant creature, which consumes worlds themselves, is too overbearing of a monster to ever fight head-on.
Yet, it has one weakness, a fatal one.
It never considered fortifying its insides. Since it forever considered whatever it consumed to be dead.
I'll make sure to make it regret ever eating me.
As I dove, faster and faster into the incredibly potent planet-melting acid, more of the parasites came toward me, which I took down with utter ease.
They looked slower than snails compared to me and were easily subduable. I only needed to reach the meaty part of the serpent.
The pressure kept increasing the further I dove, I felt as if I was fighting against the pressure of hundreds of combined seas at once, but it was bearable thanks to the Body Cultivation technique, which improved my core hundreds of times over in the past century of secluded cultivation.
After almost two hours of deep diving, I reached the end of this black acid sea.
The surface of the serpent's stomach extended far beyond the scope of my divine sense, yet I could still hear it, even from here.
The loud, ear ripping beating of its heart, from just beyond this fleshly membrane.
I pulled Creeping Demise, coated it with my Qi, then swung down.
A single slice was all I needed to cut open a slice in the fabric of the Serpent God's stomach. And the reaction that followed was as if the world itself was about to crumble down. The stomach began hardening, and I didn't have time to waste.
I shoved my fists into the quickly closing tear of the flesh and began grabbing at the meat and pulling my body forward, deeper and deeper into the flesh of its internal stomach.
Like a small parasite, I began boring through the beast's inner organs, with it unable to do anything about me.
I continue moving deeper and deeper until how many days?
The space inside its stomach was relatively empty or was only full of acid fluids, traversing it was simple, but beyond the stomach, it was nothing but compact organs that I had to dig using my own hands through.
The wounds I left on the serpent were enough to cause it to shudder and occasionally scream in agonized pain.
I lost my ear drums several hours ago and gave up on trying to repair them since they'll break once again the moment I do. The sound from its heart alone was enough to shatter my ears so what's the point of repairing them only for them to break again?
The problem however wasn't the sound.
But the vibration, its heart was basically the size of a small moon, and the vibration it did, whenever it bat, was loud enough to rattle through every bone in my body.
But, It didn't phase me, though it bat, it was slow and was only once every hour. So, whenever the heart was about to beat, I coated my body with Qi to suppress the vibration and it worked at first, but that didn't last.
Since the closer I got to the heart, the louder it became, and the more powerful the vibrations became.
And at one point, I was close enough that the heart had beaten once more, and several bones on my body broke at once.
The pain was enough for a person to faint, but I bit through the pain and trusted my regenerative prows.
Reinforced and repaired bones immediately replaced the shattered ones and I continued digging my way through.
Another day went by, then another, and finally, I was able to see it.
The heart of the beast. Between me and the heart, was some space, enough for me to float. Looking back at the area I came from, the wound had already healed.
This damn thing's regenerative power was absurdly high.
The next beat was going to happen soon. And with me floating here, I'll probably break several bones.
But, I had an idea I wanted to try.
Just before the next blow was to happen, I gathered my Qi around my fists. My muscles bulged and my veins felt as if they were about to burst as the blood flow rose up.
"Fist of Roaring Ki! IMPACT!" I sent a surge of pure Qi forward the moment the heart batted.
Two sonic-like waves echoed inside the heart chamber, mine clearly weaker, since I didn't intend to harm the heart… for now.
But it was enough to break through the heart's vibrations, giving me some respite.
I bought an hour, and I'll need to do this afterward.
I hurried toward the heart and sat down in the lotus position.
My goal was pretty simple.
"You wanted to eat me and get rid of me…now it's my turn,"
Not a second later, my body began turning hot, as I started using the art of Devouring.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l