Chapter 22: Giant Beast

Inside the Ancient Divine Soldier Camp.

A red light curtain illuminated everything.

"How amazing." Lao Tie burst out laughing "haha," though there was no mirth in his laugh.

Da Tie turned over, stared blankly at Lao Tie for a moment, then lightly bumped into Lao Tie.

"When she arrived, she was still a chick..." Lao Tie laughed in a strange voice: "But now, this woman who is flirting with our little rookie... do you understand? The transformation from girl to woman?"

Da Tie hovered motionless in midair, the blood light in his eyes frozen stiff.

"With a clueless lump like you, we really have nothing in common." Lao Tie laughed loudly: "So, a conspiracy... and an egg."

"Hit the mark perfectly!" Lao Tie roared with laughter again, the blood light in his eyes flaring intensely, the crimson glow almost lighting half the metal hall: "I'm saying, this egg was smashed perfectly... what a fine bunch of puppies, what a fine bunch of puppies... little rookie, you need a little lesson!"

Wu Tie wiped the thick egg off his face in a sorry state.

The egg liquid was foul-smelling and thick, moreover scorchingly hot, burning his skin red and almost blistering.

"You bastards, what are you doing?" Wu Tie shouted, the black shadow that had smashed the egg onto him already fled over a hundred meters away, not looking back as he sprinted off into the distance.

The earth shook violently, a loud angry roar rang out, several thick ferns as big as a person's embrace were smashed to pieces, and a ferocious-looking huge head burst out from the shattered fern debris.

At first glance, the huge head resembled a gray-rock lizard by seventy or eighty percent, but the head was two to three meters across, several times larger than a hippopotamus's head.

Its skull was studded with seven or eight sharp horns; when it opened its mouth and roared angrily, a crimson, umbrella-like fin flared behind its neck, the semicircular fin at least five meters in diameter, covered in countless purple spots, looking ferocious and mighty.

The giant beast charged forward; behind its massive head was a hulking body over ten meters tall, shaped like a gray-rock lizard but several times bulkier than an adult one, and on its sturdy back a pair of atrophied wings, only two or three meters across, flapped violently.

The beast's small, scarlet eyes, flashing with menace, locked onto Wu Tie.

Shattered eggshell lay at Wu Tie's feet, his head and face coated in thick egg liquid.

A warrior of the Ox Tribe beside Shi Lingqing grabbed her and fled in a sorry state toward the distance.

Shi Lingqing's face showed worry as she shouted at Wu Tie: "Young master, be careful... this beast has gone mad!"

In the time it took to utter a short sentence, Shi Lingqing had already been led away by her subordinates over a hundred meters; Wu Tie had not yet recovered from the series of mishaps when the beast's neck suddenly swelled, and beneath its scale-covered skin a flash of fire appeared.

Wu Tie instinctively rolled to one side, an invisible force field enveloping his body; he skimmed just above the ground, swiftly flying ten or so meters away.

A thick, crimson fire pillar as wide as a water jar, viscous like lava, scraped past his scalp.

Wu Tie's hair hissed and burned away completely, black smoke billowing; he smelled a scorched stench, and his scalp blistered into a palm-sized transparent bubble from the intense heat.

The fire pillar slammed down behind Wu Tie with a tremendous boom, blasting a meter-wide crater into the ground where a shallow pool of lava boiled, constantly bubbling up large and small bubbles.

Wu Tie let out a strange cry, he struck the diamond-shaped protrusion on his chest armor, his hands and head instantly covered by the armor, then he leapt up and fled backward at full speed.

The monster's eyes were blood-red; it threw its head back and let out a frenzied roar, stride forth with its four thick legs, kicking up a gale as it chased Wu Tie. Its running speed was astonishing, slightly faster than Wu Tie, catching up to him in the blink of an eye.

The monster suddenly lifted its upper body and slammed down its massive foreleg.

Wu Tie had no time to dodge; the monster struck him. A tremendous force hit him, Wu Tie yelled as he flew, tumbling over a hundred meters, slamming headfirst into a protruding stalactite, snapping the thick stone column in half and sending shards flying far away.

Even with his armor protecting him, the blow shook Wu Tie's viscera violently, nearly making him vomit.

He panted loudly, no longer daring to glide aloft, instead sprinting full tilt on the ground.

When gliding, he could not change direction in midair as easily as on the ground; the beast's huge paw could easily cover all his possible evasion angles and strike him.

Only on the ground, among rubble piles, mushroom clusters, fern forests, and other usable terrain, could he exploit his smaller size, using the landscape to delay the beast's pursuit.

Wu Tie fled like a panicked rat through patches of mushroom clusters and fern forests, while the beast howled madly, intermittently spewing fire pillars as it frenziedly pursued him.

Wu Tie fled while recalling the knowledge Lao Tie had taught him.

Soon he realized—he had been schemed against by Luo Lin and his gang.

Luo Lin stepped forward, figured out that Wu Tie was indeed alone here, a solitary individual with no companions, clansmen, or powerful backing. So Luo Lin's men provoked this giant beast to deal with Wu Tie.

That egg, could it be the beast's offspring?

According to Lao Tie's teachings, creatures in their breeding and nurturing phase are mad; any harm to their offspring enrages them, so even the weakest animal will fight to the death against a powerful foe to protect its young.

Those little moles are like that, let alone such a mighty giant beast.

"Luo Lin!" Wu Tie bellowed while fleeing: "I'll remember you... you damned bastards, I won't let you off!"

In answer to Wu Tie came the beast's frenzied roar; with a booming crash, a several-meter-wide boulder was smacked into the air by the monster's palm, spinning and striking Wu Tie's back.

Wu Tie let out a strange cry, the boulder hurled him tens of meters away; he lay on the ground, tumbling repeatedly, and before he could get up to run again, the monster spewed a fire pillar that slammed into him.

The pallid armor's surface temperature spiked instantly, a dreadful flame hot enough to melt stone in an instant.

Wu Tie felt as if his whole body were immersed in boiling water; he yelped "ge ge," leapt up flailing, and sprinted hopping and jumping toward a river dozens of li away.

Since the monster can spew fire, we'll use river water against it.

Wu Tie panted, having sprinted far, he suddenly froze, then turned and ran full speed back toward the location of Shi Lingqing's wooden shed.

The beast chased him madly from behind; Wu Tie sprinted all out, and as he neared Shi Lingqing's woodshed, he bellowed with all his might: "Shi Lingqing, be careful—they've used the giant beast to entangle me, they want to kill you!"

Inside the Ancient Divine Soldier Camp, Lao Tie laughed "ga ga."

"This little rookie, should Grandpa praise him for his kindness and sense of justice? Or should I say... he's just plain stupid?" Lao Tie sneered: "Looks like he's stupid... what do you think?"

Da Tie's eyes flickered with a faint light as he lightly turned his massive head.

Wu Tie ran at full speed, he leapt up suddenly, clearing a pile of protruding stalactites, and glanced toward the location of Shi Lingqing's woodshed.

"Boom," the beast came charging; the stalactites were shattered by its impact, countless bowl-sized fragments hammered Wu Tie's body, emitting piercing clangs. The pallid armor sparked with fire, the fragments shattered, leaving no mark on the armor.

The woodshed had collapsed, the ground stained with large patches of blood.

A youth clad in black tight-fitting clothes, with a straight sword sheathed on his back, gripping the sword in his right hand and three tiny throwing knives in his left, fell rigidly to the ground, his whole body drenched in blood, blood continually flowing from him and forming a small pool in a mud pit over two meters away.

One died.

In such a short time, Wu Tie's round trip took only about fifteen minutes, and already one of Luo Lin's companions was dead.

Wu Tie wanted to examine the youth's cause of death, but the beast came charging; Wu Tie shouted and thrust his spear at the beast's head.

The beast slapped forward; Wu Tie's spear shuddered violently, nearly wrenched from his grip, his body spun and was flung away, slamming hard onto the ground and bouncing two or three times.

Struggling to his feet from the ground in a sorry state, Wu Tie panted, enduring the visceral pain from his organs' violent shaking, and continued to flee in a sorry state.

The beast frenziedly pursued, it stepped on the dead youth's body, flesh and blood flying, the youth instantly crushed beyond recognition.

Wu Tie panted as he fled, fleeing at full speed.

Facing this huge creature, he really had no choice. He could only flee at full speed, randomly picking a direction to escape.

Originally, he wanted to flee back to the Ancient God Armory Camp. But he inexplicably thought of Stone Spirit Qing and Luo Lin and others, and subconsciously he ran in the direction away from the Ancient God Armory Camp.

Even though he felt an inexplicable fondness for Stone Spirit Qing, he was unwilling to let her know of the existence of the Ancient God Armory Camp.

The giant beast madly roared, pursuing Wu Tie with leaps and bounds; each time its heavy body leapt and landed, the surrounding ground shook violently, and countless shards of stone continuously shot out in all directions.

It occasionally spewed a terrifying pillar of fire at Wu Tie; each time Wu Tie was hit by the fire pillar, he would scream 'squeak-wah' in pain, flailing his arms and legs as he accelerated his escape.

In pursuit and flight, after running for an unknown length of time, a distant howl suddenly grew louder and more terrifying.

This beast, which had been chasing fiercely for a while and was already somewhat out of breath, suddenly raised its upper body and let out a sharp, mournful howl.

Wu Tie shuddered in fright, he abruptly looked toward the direction the howl came from, and instantly his scalp went numb—over there was a beast one-third larger than the giant beast chasing him from behind, at least twenty-something meters long from head to tail, racing over like a mad wind.

"Doomed!" Wu Tie shouted, instinctively increasing his speed again.

He dashed through mushroom thickets, fern forests, and clumps of stone stalagmites, scrambling and crawling in a sorry state, while the giant beast madly chased him from behind. Before long, one giant beast became two, and the newcomer was larger and faster.

What's worse, its fire pillar was even stronger.

The first beast's fire pillar was merely crimson, while the second's fire pillar already contained a hint of azure-blue; undoubtedly this was a more powerful flame, as thick as two water tanks, and when it hit the ground the blazing, viscous fire spread out, melting the ground within a ten-meter radius into lava.

The scorching flames raged everywhere, large patches of mushroom thickets and fern forests were dried out and then burst into fierce flames.

Wherever Wu Tie passed, the firelight blazed brightly, illuminating everything around him.

Gradually, Wu Tie's strength was nearly exhausted; even though he had completed the first layer of Foundation Establishment, and his essence blood had given rise to powerful primal force, his stamina still had its limits.

After running for several hundred li, Wu Tie was drenched in sweat, his five viscera felt as if on fire, especially his lungs, which were agonized as if a handful of fine needles had been shoved into them, his alveoli ready to burst at any moment.

His primal force within was completely depleted, his legs felt as heavy as if filled with mercury, and his footsteps grew much heavier when he ran.

The smaller giant beast's speed also became extremely slow; its enormous size meant that, after chasing Wu Tie for several hundred li, its stamina consumption was dozens of times Wu Tie's, making it already difficult to have pursued him this far.

But the larger giant beast, now full of stamina, let out a loud roar and pursued Wu Tie like a madman; several times it nearly caught him, nearly swallowing him whole in one bite.

Fortunately, the terrain here was complex, with stone stalagmites and pillars hundreds of meters high all around…

Wu Tie suddenly looked around, and his heart gave a violent jerk.

Unbeknownst to him, he had left the safe zone Old Iron spoke of and arrived near that lava fissure, in a half-side basin where the terrain was even more complex, the vegetation denser, and the ecosystem richer and more dangerous.

Giant stone stalagmites and pillars were densely packed all around, with narrow gaps between them; Wu Tie scrambled in by crawling and scrambling, and the giant beast behind him, off guard, struck its head with a 'thud' against a huge stone pillar, forcibly bending the pillar that was over two meters thick and hundreds of meters tall.

The stone pillar emitted a terrifying cracking sound, then quickly collapsed.

The stone pillar heavily smashed into the adjacent stone pillar; the two pillars collided, and amid a tremendous roar, stone pillars toppled one after another like dominoes.

Wu Tie let out a sharp cry, he suddenly leapt into the air, and as stone pillars continually collapsed, countless boulders rained down from above in a chaotic hail.

Wu Tie pushed off the boulders repeatedly to launch himself skyward, an invisible force field enveloping him and carrying him aloft like a bird.

From the tops of the stone pillars came a piercing whistle, and gusts of foul-smelling wind blew down from above.

Dozens of points of eerie green light appeared atop the stone pillars, accompanied by a continual piercing whistle.

The giant beast, unwilling to give up, raised its head and spewed successive pillars of fire toward the sky.

Wu Tie hastily dodged; atop the stone pillars, several gigantic spiders of absurd size howled madly, plummeting like meteors and unfurling their long, sharp claws to grab at the giant beast.