Chapter 262: The Outsider from Afar

Roar!

A deafening roar resounded between heaven and earth, shaking the very ground with a slight tremor.

Amidst the rolling black smoke, the behemoth within stopped its advance. It gazed at the ancient glowing characters suspended in the void, fear and fury emerging in its scarlet pupils.

It was precisely this power that had sealed it within this mountain forest.

Originally, it had assumed that with the passage of time, this power would have weakened, but looking at it now, it still would not allow it to run rampant.

Its scarlet beastly pupils looked unwillingly into the distance; the human who possessed the dual-phase was right there. He was so weak that if it just charged over, it could swallow him whole.

Then it would be able to touch the power of the dual-phase, which would be of immense help in reaching that bottleneck.

Yet, even this short distance was unreachable because of those ancient characters in mid-air that radiated a mysterious pressure.

Roar!

It felt extremely unwilling and stomped its feet on the spot, the immense force causing the earth to tremble, but in the end, it still lacked the courage to provoke that power.

Or rather, it dared not provoke the master of that power.

That was an existence it dared not contend with.

In its somewhat chaotic and violent memory, it had once seen the master of those ancient characters; even just catching a glimpse from afar back then had made it feel an inexplicable terror.

Finally, after raging in the mountain forest for a moment, the massive black smoke turned and left, eventually disappearing into the vast mountain range.

Clearly, it had chosen to retreat.

And as this Heavenly General-tier spirit beast departed, the ancient characters in mid-air slowly descended, finally turning into a glimmer of light that shot toward the peak of the mountain mentioned earlier.

Outside the Dark Spirit Pool, everyone felt a sense of relief.

Fortunately, that spirit beast could not break free from the seal left by the Dean; otherwise, they would have had to abandon their cultivation at the Dark Spirit Pool today and flee for their lives.

Li Luo also quietly breathed a sigh of relief. If that spirit beast had really escaped, he would likely have been the unluckiest one, as there was an eighty percent chance the latter had been coming for him.

And a spirit beast with strength reaching the peak of the Heavenly General-tier—looking across all the students of the Astral Sage College, even the Seven Star Pillars might not be able to contend with it.

The strongest person on his side was Jiang Qing'e, but she was currently only at the mid-stage of the Earth Fiend General, the Fiend Body stage, which clearly still had a huge gap compared to the spirit beast in the restricted area.

So, the current situation could be considered the best possible outcome.

"It's a good thing this spirit beast didn't rush out, otherwise there would likely be a river of blood here today," Tian Tian said with a solemn expression.

Qiu Bai nodded gravely. If this spirit beast were converted into an Otherworldly Being grade, it would be a Great Disaster-grade... and this level of Otherworldly Being would not appear on the outskirts of this Dark Cave.

Even if a squad from the Fourth Star Academy encountered a Great Disaster-grade Otherworldly Being, they would only have one choice: run!

"The Dean is truly amazing; just a piece of handwriting left behind is enough to suppress a Heavenly General-tier spirit beast," Li Luo said, looking at the distant mountain that had returned to calm, his expression filled with yearning.

"That handwriting contains a trace of the Dean's will, and one could even say it already possesses a bit of spirituality... The level of a King-tier powerhouse is not something you or I can fathom; that is the pinnacle power of this world."

Jiang Qing'e explained, her clear golden eyes also gazing at the distant mountain. She pursed her red lips and said softly in a voice only the two of them could hear: "But one day, you and I will definitely reach that level."

"Why did you drag me into this?" Li Luo couldn't help but laugh.

"Not everyone can be like you, a Ninth-grade Light-phase, sweeping away everything."

A smile appeared in Jiang Qing'e's eyes as she said: "Your dual-phase isn't necessarily simple either... And, for some reason, I always have a premonition that your limit doesn't seem to be just that."

Being watched by Jiang Qing'e's pair of eyes, Li Luo couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. This big white goose's perception was truly too sharp; the dual-phase was indeed not his limit...

The day he stepped into the General-rank, I'm afraid even Marquis-tier powerhouses would be shocked beyond measure.

What is the power of a dual-phase...

Have you ever seen a Three-phase Palace at the General-rank?!

"Let's go, the cultivation at the Dark Spirit Pool ends here. Next, we will begin to conquer the Level 2 Purification Towers," Jiang Qing'e said, changing the subject without dwelling on it further.

Upon hearing this, Li Luo, Bai Mengmeng, and Xin Fu felt their spirits lift, their eyes showing eagerness.

Compared to the previous Level 1 Purification Towers, the difficulty of Level 2 Purification Towers was significantly higher. It is said that White-corrosion grade Otherworldly Beings run rampant inside, and there are quite a few Red-corrosion grade ones as well. Of course, most importantly, some heavily polluted Level 2 Purification Towers might give birth to Disaster-grade Otherworldly Beings.

That is strength equivalent to the General-tier. Only the Black Swan squad can clear Otherworldly Beings of this level.

Li Luo and the others certainly wouldn't be so ambitious as to go looking for trouble with Disaster-grade Otherworldly Beings, but with Li Luo's strength having surged to the Third Pattern of the Life Pattern stage, their squad should be able to fully contend head-on with all White-corrosion grade Otherworldly Beings, and even some weaker Red-corrosion grade ones; if they made thorough preparations, it wasn't impossible to give it a try.

Jiang Qing'e took out a map and her slender jade fingers pointed to several Level 2 Purification Towers that were gradually moving toward the distance of this region; this was the route they would advance along.

The last point on this route...

Li Luo's gaze looked toward the scarlet small tower icon further away; that was a Level 3 Purification Tower.

If they could conquer this Purification Tower, then their purification mission in the Dark Cave this time would be considered to have successfully completed a stage.

This was a great mountain shrouded in thick black fog.

The black fog within the mountain was like viscous moisture; these mists dripped slowly along the withered leaves, releasing boundless coldness.

Within the black fog, eerie whispers constantly emerged.

From time to time, strange figures would shuttle through the black fog, followed by the eruption of Evil Thought power. Amidst ear-piercing screams, the strange things would tear at each other and devour one another.

Deep in the mountain.

There was a ground piled with heaps of white bones.

In the center of the white bones was a flesh-and-bone chair, the flesh and blood squirming. At this moment, a shadow about several zhang in size was coiled upon the flesh-and-bone chair.

That figure was exceptionally strange; its body seemed to be a centipede made of flesh and blood, with rows of flesh-and-blood arms waving unconsciously, while on its body was a head exactly the same as a human's.

This human-headed centipede Otherworldly Being radiated extremely astonishing Evil Thought power; this was an Otherworldly Being whose strength had reached the Earth Disaster-grade!

It coiled on the flesh-and-bone chair, its six cold and violent eyes staring at the white-bone plaza in front, where many Otherworldly Beings were devouring each other, forming, amidst hissing sounds, monsters that looked hair-raising just to behold.

However, as these Otherworldly Beings continued to devour and reorganize, the human-headed centipede Otherworldly Being on the flesh-and-bone chair suddenly opened its mouth, which expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye, occupying more than half of its face.

With one suck of its mouth, black energy rolled, directly sweeping up the Otherworldly Beings in the plaza and swallowing them in one gulp. As its stark white, sharp teeth chewed, shrill sounds emerged from within.

Black liquid flowed out along the corners of its mouth.

After finishing this wave of Otherworldly Beings, the human-headed centipede Otherworldly Being let out a sharp screech, which was driving the other Otherworldly Beings here to continue coming to this place to devour each other.

However, after the sharp screech was issued, the human-headed centipede suddenly discovered that no other Otherworldly Beings appeared.

This made the human-headed centipede somewhat furious. It was the king of this region; did these low-level things dare to ignore its orders?

The human-headed centipede's flesh-and-blood body propped itself up, thick and viscous Evil Thought power surging like rolling waves. It intended to go out and clear out these disobedient low-level things nearby.

Hee hee!

However, just as it was about to act, a giggle suddenly rang out. That giggle made the Evil Thought black energy all over the human-headed centipede Otherworldly Being's body suddenly churn.

An indescribable pressure covered its body.

The human-headed centipede Otherworldly Being felt fear in its heart. It understood this feeling, because when it used to devour other Otherworldly Beings, those Otherworldly Beings were the same, completely suppressed like livestock waiting to be slaughtered.

This is... an Otherworldly Being higher than it has appeared!

The human-headed centipede slowly lowered its head, only to see the ground squirming at this moment, gradually forming a smiling face. The corners of the smiling face split extremely wide, and within it was gloomy and pitch-black, as if it led to an unknown place.

And that smiling face seemed to radiate a special magic, making the human-headed centipede abandon all resistance, and then it moved its flesh-and-blood body, bit by bit, actively crawling into that smiling big mouth.