Chapter 525: Penning

Within Zhenjiang City, black fog spread everywhere. The fog was extraordinarily thick and viscous, as if even the wind could hardly disperse it, and strange whispers kept emanating from within, unsettling the mind.

Li Luo and his two companions walked along the broken streets. The houses and buildings on either side were also in a ruined state—collapsed walls and crumbling remains—appearing extremely desolate.

It was hard to imagine that this place, once, had been a ceaseless flow of people, bustling and boiling with prosperity.

Concealed by the Qi-Concealing Talisman, no phase force fluctuations emanated from the three of them. They moved silently through the city, like ghosts.

Hiss.

But just as they were passing through a street, their steps suddenly halted, because from a building ahead, they saw many red things rapidly slithering out. A glance revealed them to be red snakes carpeting the ground.

Yet upon closer inspection, one would discover that those red snakes had no scales; they were composed of bloody flesh, making them look like blood-red fleshworms.

These blood-red flesh-snakes had no eyes—only a terrifying maw bristling with fangs and sharp teeth.

Clearly, these were Other Beasts.

Their grade wasn't high, probably barely reaching the White Erosion grade.

Li Luo's group halted, not slaying these Other Beasts, but letting them slither past before their eyes, because as the blood-red flesh-snakes surged out, strange sounds suddenly came from within that ruined building, and the ground trembled faintly at this moment.

After a dozen or so breaths, a strange snake roughly ten-odd meters long slithered out from the darkness of the ruined house.

That strange snake was likewise composed of fresh-red flesh. As its body dragged along, it left a trail of scarlet blood on the ground. The blood evidently possessed extremely strong corrosive power—wherever it passed, the ground was left with a corroded mark.

Eight legs grew beneath its belly, resembling both a spider and a great python. And at the position of its snake-head was a human head. That head slowly turned, its pupils a ghastly white, giving one a sinister and eerie feeling.

On this strange snake's body, extremely fierce Malice Qi flowed like smoke, corroding the air.

Li Luo's three watched the strange snake burrow out of the building and gradually move away.

"This strange snake should be a Calamity-grade Other Beast. In terms of strength, it's a bit stronger than the Two-Faced Wolf from that small town a few days ago," Jiang Jiang Qinge said softly.

"Coming into the city all this way, this kind of strange snake is already the third one." Li Luo clenched his teeth. They had clearly underestimated the number of Other Beasts within Zhenjiang City. The Erosion-grade blood-red flesh-snakes didn't even count; snakes like the human-headed one from before, they had already seen three identical ones.

Clearly, this was not the entirety.

If one roughly estimated based on this frequency, there were probably no fewer than ten of these strange snakes within the city.

That would be equivalent to ten experts of the Earth Fiend General Stage. However, the good news was that the strongest of these strange snake Other Beasts was only equivalent to the second stage of the Earth Fiend General Stage—the Fiend Body Stage.

But this still didn't account for the Four-Armed Demon-Eyed Snake that Huang Lou had mentioned.

"These strange snake Other Beasts are very likely manufactured by that Catastrophe-grade Four-Armed Demon-Eyed Snake. Since entering Zhenjiang City, every Other Beast we've encountered has had a similar appearance. I don't think this is a coincidence," the Princess said slowly.

Li Luo's gaze sharpened. If that were the case, the Four-Armed Demon-Eyed Snake's tenacity would exceed imagination. After all, being able to deliberately manufacture so many Other Beasts clearly meant that thing already possessed some spiritual intelligence.

"There are quite a few Other Beasts here. If that Four-Armed Demon-Eyed Snake can also control them, then it really would be somewhat troublesome. After all, no matter what, there are only three of us. If we fall into a flood of Other Beasts and are then ambushed by the Four-Armed Demon-Eyed Snake, the situation would become somewhat dangerous," Jiang Jiang Qinge said, a hint of solemnity also surfacing in her eyes.

The Princess nodded. Just as she was about to speak, her pretty face suddenly shifted slightly, and her gaze shot toward the direction of the city's west.

"What astonishing Malice Qi," she said in a low voice.

Jiang Jiang Qinge also looked toward that side. The thick, viscous black fog in the distance there seemed to be churning violently. In her perception, an extremely powerful Malice Qi was emerging over there—a Malice Qi several times stronger than those strange snake Other Beasts from before, and then some.

"That should be the Four-Armed Demon-Eyed Snake," Jiang Jiang Qinge said softly.

The Princess looked at her and said, "Shall we go scout it?"

"We can. With the Qi-Concealing Talisman shielding us, it won't detect us. We need to get some intelligence from it—such as its exact grade and strength—so we can formulate our battle plan afterward," Jiang Jiang Qinge said.

Both women were decisive; once the decision was made, they moved forward swiftly.

Li Luo hurried to keep up. This place was far too dangerous, with Calamity-grade Other Beasts everywhere. If he, a mere Phase Master Stage cultivator, got separated, he might be in danger.

The three swiftly passed through broken street after broken street. After some ten-odd minutes like this, Jiang Jiang Qinge and the Princess up ahead stopped almost simultaneously, then their figures swept up onto a tower, their gazes simultaneously cast toward the end of this unusually wide street.

There, the black fog churned, the ground trembled faintly, and the next moment, a figure roughly four or five meters tall slithered out from the black fog.

It was a white human-python. The human-python had four arms and dragged a thick, round serpentine body. The snake body was covered all over with white scales, but upon closer inspection, one would discover those scales were a ghastly white color—they were clearly human fingernails... only these fingernails now took on an inverted-triangle, sharp form. So many dead people's fingernails covering its body—it really was enough to make one's scalp crawl.

Above the snake body was the bare upper half of a woman's form. The woman's features were gorgeous and beautiful, with a hint of allure. Her long hair hung loose, and at the center of her brow, a scarlet vertical eye slowly rotated, appearing especially eerie and sinister.

If one ignored the dead people's fingernails covering its body, this Other Beast looked rather like a Beauty Python.

But Li Luo didn't dare look too much, especially at the scarlet vertical eye at its brow, because that vertical eye seemed to possess a soul-stealing ability that made one involuntarily want to sink into it.

Clearly, this white Beauty Python should be the strongest Other Beast in Zhenjiang City—the very Four-Armed Demon-Eyed Snake that had swallowed the lord of Zhenjiang City bite by bite.

At this moment, this Four-Armed Demon-Eyed Snake slithered across the street. Though it appeared slow, when its tail swung, it leapt over a hundred zhang, swiftly crossing the street and finally entering a massive estate.

Li Luo's three stood atop the tower and also looked toward that estate, and their hearts gave a jolt.

Because they saw that within that estate, there were actually still many, many human figures.

Were there really this many people still alive within Zhenjiang City?!

The three looked closely and found that the human figures within the estate were all lying numbly. Although they could still sense a trace of vitality on their bodies, no fluctuation could be seen in their eyes, as if they were walking corpses without spiritual intelligence.

Moreover, they also noticed that some of these people, whether male or female, had abnormally distended bellies. The vitality on these people was even weaker, nearly on the verge of dissipating entirely.

The Four-Armed Demon-Eyed Snake slowly slithered into the estate, and then a strange hissing sound came from its mouth.

The next moment, Li Luo's three were horrified to see those people with distended bellies suddenly twist and struggle violently. They seemed about to scream, but when they opened their mouths, their mouths were empty. Then black blood flowed from their eye sockets, and two black flesh-snakes devoured their eyes, then burrowed out from the eye sockets.

These black flesh-snakes swiftly slithered toward the Four-Armed Demon-Eyed Snake, were then grabbed by the latter, stuffed into its mouth, and chewed, producing crunch crunch sounds. Black fresh blood dripped from the corners of its mouth, causing that originally still-gorgeous face to instantly become extremely terrifying.

And on the ground, those people with distended bellies began to deflate at this moment, their entire bodies turning into sheets of human skin. The appearance was as if the flesh and organs within their bodies had all been devoured clean at this moment.

After the Four-Armed Demon-Eyed Snake finished enjoying this "meal," it flicked a finger, and several black lights flew out, landing directly on some of the human figures within the estate. Within these black lights, a worm could be seen wriggling, and then the worm swiftly burrowed into the bodies of those people who offered no resistance.

After doing all this, it then slithered its massive body around and turned to leave.

From the tower not far away, Li Luo's three witnessed all of this.

The complexions of all three turned somewhat ashen.

This Other Beast had actually penned these people up like pigs and sheep, then used them as incubators for food.