Chapter 649: Disconnection and Mutation
The star spirit Hali frowned, scanning the remaining three.
——They really didn’t look like they’d set up an ambush against her.
Besides, Luo De hadn’t revealed his strength before them; he couldn’t have done this.
“What’s going on?”
The female star spirit with the mastiff frontline didn’t rush to explain; she stroked the mastiff’s head to calm it, then blurted out: “Didn’t you see it?”
Hali frowned: “See what?”
The female star spirit turned to Luo De: “What about you? Did you see it?”
Luo De shook his head.
“Oh, but all three of us saw it—and it’s still there.”
The girl’s pupils widened, her eyes turning slightly white.
Was this some kind of star spirit reaction?
But Luo De hated this: “If you keep speaking in riddles, I’m going to hit someone.”
Hali tugged his hand and softly urged: “Tell us in detail.”
This was a circular clearing surrounded by trees, and the mist had thinned considerably.
Yet even without the terrifying trees surrounding them or the fog obscuring vision and expanding the unknown,
Hali felt this place was colder and more suffocating than the forest.
Without dead branches blocking the view, the pale moon above shone brighter, casting a thick layer of deathly gray over everyone’s faces.
And faintly, it seemed as if a pair of eyes were watching them.
The Gazing Moon Hall?
Was this what it felt like?
The female star spirit swallowed hard:
“Raymon was the first to discover this place. We originally planned to ambush him here, but waited half an hour and he never came out. At first we thought he’d obtained the token and slipped away using a device, so we went in together to confirm. But the Gazing Eye hadn’t vanished—it still hung in the center—meaning the token is still here.”
But the Eye of Peering Moon had not vanished; it still hung in the center, proving the token was still there.
Luo De voiced his confusion.
Hali explained: “The token of the Gazing Moon Hall is the ‘Pale Eye.’ The trial requires staring into the eyeball, falling into an illusion, and breaking free to claim the token.”
Haley explained: “The token of the Hall of Peering Moon is the ‘Pale Eye.’ The trial within requires gazing into the eyeball, falling into an illusion—break free, and you claim the token.”
“Yes, it’s an old relic passed down from years ago. We’ve handled all three tokens easily, so I never bothered explaining them to you.”
Hali turned again to her female colleague: “Then just take the token.”
The female star spirit trembled: “But… Raymon’s still here.”
“What are you talking about? Didn’t you say he was dead?”
Hali frowned, annoyed by the woman’s inconsistent statements.
Another star spirit, controlling a four-legged dragon beast frontline, turned ashen and added:
“No, that’s not Raymon anymore. His corpse fused with his Corpse Tomb Beast frontline—a chimera-like monster wandering the hall. We had to kill him together.”
“No, that’s no longer Raymond. His corpse fused with his Corpse Mound Frontline, becoming a chimera-like monster wandering the hall—we had to join forces to kill him.”
Luo De smiled.
He found this interesting.
He’d thought this was just an ordinary survival trial; this twist had stirred some energy in him.
“Is this a change after failing the trial?”
“No. Failing the Gazing Moon Hall trial only causes bleeding eyes.”
“No, failing the Hall of Peering Moon’s trial amounts to no more than bleeding eyes.”
The female star spirit scratched her head in anguish, pulling out a handful of hair—not just from killing a comrade:
“What the hell are the Association people doing?! Didn’t they say they fixed the influence of the Magic Web Curtain?!”
“Did you report it? What did the six Returning Seers say?”
The last star spirit, controlling a Dance Spirit frontline, turned pale and slumped onto a rock: “We can’t reach them—the magic stone keeps losing connection. The Gazing Moon Hall has changed. The token can’t be retrieved.”
The last Star Spirit controller of the War Dance Spirit sat pale on the rocky ground: “No connection—the magic stone keeps losing link. The Hall of Peering Moon has changed; the token cannot be retrieved.”
But they were at least seventh-rank high-level—yet now they looked utterly broken.
Logically, they’d faced death before; they shouldn’t be this shaken from killing a mutated colleague.
“What do we do? Do we go in?”
Hali hesitated after hearing this.
Luo De looked at the three broken figures: “Earlier you said you saw something—what did you see?”
The star spirit controlling the four-legged dragon beast frontline froze.
He cupped his hands over his eyes, then pointed at the moon, his wide pupils unnervingly pale: “Eyes. The moon turned into eyes. Don’t you see it?”
He cupped his hands over his eyes and pointed at the moon, his wide pupils chillingly unnerving: “Eyes. The moon has become an eye—can’t you see it?”
The pale, paper-thin moon had nothing in common with an eye except its spherical shape.
The pale moon, save for its spherical shape, bore no resemblance to an eye.
Hali lowered her head, about to shake it—then suddenly realized the three broken figures were all staring at them.
Their faces twisted in terror, their unnaturally pale pupils filling nearly the entire eye sockets.
His face twisted in utter terror, his unnaturally pale pupils nearly filling his entire eye sockets.
she noticed the female colleague’s hand resting on the mastiff’s head hadn’t moved at all. Closer inspection revealed it wasn’t soothing—it was that their muscle fibers had entwined like living things!
She realized the female colleague’s hand resting on the Xiang Ao’s head had not moved at all—look closer, and it wasn’t soothing; their muscle fibers were entwined like living things!
A chill surged from the crown of her head, piercing through her entire body.
A chill surged from the crown of his head, piercing clean through his entire body.
“Calm down, Hali.”
A pair of scorching hands wrapped around hers, warm and soothing breath brushing her ear.
For some reason, she felt inexplicably safe.
For no reason at all, he felt an inexplicable sense of safety.
She immediately realized her mind had been assaulted and swiftly cast a mental defense spell.
He immediately realized his mind had been assaulted and swiftly cast a spell to shield his spirit.
“They died before we spoke our first word.”
“How could that be—”
“And your escape crystal from the labyrinth is almost certainly useless.”
Luo De smiled with interest, pointing to their black metal chains at the waist.
Where the escape crystal pendants should have hung, there was nothing but emptiness.
Where the teleportation crystal pendant should have hung, there was now nothing but emptiness.
The female star spirit’s throat emitted a strange growl.
Her skin suddenly writhed, bubbling and splitting like boiling wax. From beside her, the two-meter-tall, hairless mastiff’s muscle fibers erupted like living snakes, fusing with her skin, twisting wildly.
Her finger bones snapped and reformed into twisted claws; her jaw split open, canines growing wildly, her throat spewing inhuman wails.
The mastiff’s spine twisted and warped, ribs piercing its tough hide like hooked claws, embedding into the female star spirit’s waist and abdomen.
Then came pulling, tearing, the wet, sticky sounds of flesh merging.
Moments later,
with the final scream choked in the fused throat, a grotesque, twitching mass of flesh lay on the ground.
The mastiff’s and star spirit’s distorted heads shared one neck, six misaligned limbs, half their translucent deep-blue flesh revealing organs still swelling, bursting, and reforming.
And this new monster suddenly opened two deathly white beast eyes, glaring with vicious malice at Luo De in front.
Its throat emitted a monstrous roar—
But it didn’t roar.
Pssshhh!!
A wrist-thick [Flame Ray] shot through, superheating the air with violent heat, instantly melting through the monster’s dog head.
Luo De crushed the shriveled eyeball from his palm; before it hit the ground, it turned to black ash and vanished.
“What are you trying to pull on me?”
Luo De stepped forward, sneering.
At the same moment,
the dragon beast and the Dance Spirit began fusing with their respective star spirit masters.
Same eerie horror, same inhumanity.
And faintly, an ancient aura seemed to linger.
(End of Chapter)
(End of Chapter)
End of Chapter
