Chapter 89: Ancient Giant Beast

The Soul Beasts outside seemed to sense the change in the treasure bottle's aura and instantly became even more restless; the thick black tentacles constricted more violently, causing the illusory light and starlight of the treasure bottle to flash and burst like fireworks.

However, no matter how hard the tentacles pulled, Xu Chen did not feel much of a threat.

In other words, this pressure was still far from the limit of the Blue Light Treasure Bottle, which made him feel much more at ease, so he put his full effort into extending his Divine Sense deep into the churning, viscous red light.

Ten zhang... twenty zhang... thirty zhang...

As his Divine Sense continued to spread, the situation in the surroundings was fed back into Xu Chen's mind as a relatively complete picture.

Within the range he could observe, there were roughly three enormous tentacles.

However, they seemed to be separated by an infinite distance from the main body of the tentacles, not even appearing to be in the same world.

"Roar~~"

Accompanied by the continuous expansion of Xu Chen's Divine Sense, roars like muffled thunder rang out, and the entire world of red light began to vibrate and fluctuate violently, grinding the majority of his Divine Sense into powder.

Xu Chen tried several times in succession, but once his Divine Sense extended to about fifty zhang, it was completely unable to move forward.

Yet he did not give up; he began to recall and imitate the situation when he had previously contended with the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus for the Jade Bead inside the Blue Light Treasure Bottle, condensing his Divine Sense into a thin vine similar to the tentacles, stubbornly moving forward through the magma-like red light, though his speed was extremely slow, like a snail crawling.

Although Xu Chen was anxious, there was nothing he could do; while the progress of his Divine Sense was slow, at least it was still moving, so he patiently kept pushing his Divine Sense forward.

It took Xu Chen three days to go from fifty zhang to sixty zhang, because he had consumed his second Bigu Pill.

And after his Divine Sense was exhausted from exploring, he would spend about half a day practicing to recover his energy, while simultaneously using his Divine Sense to draw in white energy to nourish his Soul and Meridians and dantian.

Repeating this process, time flowed by in three-day stages.

As more and more white energy was drawn in, he discovered that not only was the space of the Blue Light Treasure Bottle slowly expanding, but the strength of his own Soul had also increased significantly, and the speed at which his Divine Sense moved through the red light was gradually accelerating.

By the time he consumed the seventh Bigu Pill, his Divine Sense had already exceeded a distance of one hundred zhang, but it had also been compressed to the thickness of only a chopstick.

Reaching this state, Xu Chen felt he was at his wit's end and began to doubt whether everything he was doing had any meaning.

Because the Bigu Pills were more than half gone, and according to his calculations, they had been trapped here for over twenty days.

If they still could not find a way out in the next ten days, the two of them would completely run out of food and wait for death.

Furthermore, the Bigu Pills only staved off hunger, not thirst; having gone without water for over twenty days, if it weren't for the fact that both of them had the foundation of powerful cultivators, they would have already died of thirst more than ten days ago.

Therefore, it was too late to try other methods to find a way out; they could only follow this path to the end.

Thus, Xu Chen gritted his teeth and persisted.

Lan You still clung to his back like an octopus every day, either closing her eyes to cultivate or silently staring blankly; the two would occasionally exchange a few words, but they could not communicate anything of value.

In the blink of an eye, another three days passed, and Xu Chen took the eighth Bigu Pill.

Looking at the remaining three pills in the medicine bottle, a bitter smile appeared on Xu Chen's withered and gaunt face as he shoved the Jade Bottle into Lan You's hand and said, "It seems we have less than ten days of hope left."

Lan You was also severely dehydrated, her cheeks becoming shriveled and pale; she trembled slightly and said softly, "I will give you all the remaining pills; I hope you can survive to escape."

Xu Chen shook his head and said, "Death is not a pity, but I am unwilling to die so stiflingly. I will continue to work hard in the coming days; I hope the heavens will open their eyes!"

Perhaps his efforts finally moved the heavens; two days later, when this wisp of his Divine Sense was compressed to the size of a needle tip and his sensory perception was nearly non-existent, the scene before him suddenly darkened. His Divine Sense seemed to have pierced through the red light, and a scene he would never forget in his life appeared in his mind.

He saw a pitch-black, enormous stone platform floating in the Void; the stone platform was at least a thousand zhang in diameter, presenting a massive compass-like structure, covered in circles of strange dark red Ancient Runes that were constantly rotating slowly, flickering with red light.

In the center of the stone platform stood eight dark red stone pillars, each several tens of zhang high, with a massive dark red chain on each pillar, locking a spherical giant beast covered in red and black interwoven scales in the center of the compass.

The tentacles were extending from this giant beast.

However, they seemed to be merely its feelers.

The red chains pierced through the body of the spherical giant beast, releasing a blood-colored light like a raging fire, wrapping the entire beast within it, while the large number of black feelers on the beast's body were frantically entangling and tearing at the chains amidst the red light and fire, causing the entire stone platform to vibrate slightly.

Under Xu Chen's Divine Sense perception, both the stone platform and the giant beast seemed extremely ancient, carrying a terrifying aura of the primordial era; some parts of the stone platform had already begun to crack and break, with some of the Ancient Runes having collapsed, and while the eight stone pillars appeared stable, they were actually shaking incessantly under the beast's struggle and tearing.

This situation was similar to the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus from before.

This terrifying ancient giant beast must have been imprisoned here by a super-powerful being using an Array, but because too much time had passed, the Array had begun to fail, which was why the giant beast was able to break the confinement and drag the two of them into this godforsaken place.

"Damn it, what kind of monster is this?"

Xu Chen had been cultivating for several years; although his cultivation had always been trash and his knowledge of the Immortal World was very poor, he still knew quite a few legends and stories about the Immortal World, but he had never seen a record of a monster of this shape.

And just as Xu Chen's Divine Sense appeared in this stone platform space, he felt the Jade Bottle erupt with an unprecedentedly violent vibration, and streams of Blue Starlight spewed out, suddenly flicking away the black tentacles wrapped around the outside, then wrapping around Xu Chen and Lan You, transforming into a brilliant blue stream of light that crashed onto the edge of the black stone platform.

"Roar-ang~~~"

The spherical giant beast locked on the stone platform let out an earth-shattering roar, and a dense mass of tentacles that had been entangling and tearing at the chains surged toward the treasure bottle like wild grass.

Lan You's face turned deathly pale as she let out a cry of alarm, her hands clutching Xu Chen's neck tightly, her legs involuntarily wrapping tightly around his waist again, while she buried her head deep into the back of Xu Chen's head.

Xu Chen was also filled with horror.

He had not expected that he would successfully find the main body of the tentacles, and he had thought he would find a way to escape, but he never imagined that he would end up poking a hornet's nest, triggering the Blue Light Treasure Bottle to chase after the giant beast like a moth to a flame.

Although the giant beast was trapped by the Array, it still possessed a monstrously terrifying aura.

Not to mention facing it as an enemy, even the seemingly thin feelers on the giant beast's body were each enough to easily grind him into powder.

"Boom~"

A large number of feelers finally collided with the Blue Light Treasure Bottle.

Amidst a flash of blue and black light, the treasure bottle shook violently.

Xu Chen and Lan You were shaken until their souls were disoriented and their vision went black; at the same time, they felt the space around their bodies clear, and amidst the tumbling, they discovered that the Blue Light Treasure Bottle had suddenly expanded more than a hundredfold, and while its appearance became even more illusory and hazy, it stood nearly a hundred zhang high above the stone platform, emitting clusters of deep blue nebulae that wrapped toward the stone platform like clouds and mist.

"Thud~"

Xu Chen slammed heavily onto the soft ground, bouncing high before landing again.

Even so, Lan You still remained wrapped tightly around his back like an octopus, refusing to let go.

"You... let go, I can't breathe!"

Xu Chen rolled around, struggling to pry Lan You's hands apart.

Finally, the hands on his neck were pried open, and Xu Chen gasped for air.

Lan You, however, remained in a state of terror for a long time before she finally came to her senses and hurriedly loosened her legs, rolling off Xu Chen onto the ground.

Xu Chen was in no mood to care about the current situation; instead, he hurriedly looked outward.

At this moment, the surroundings were already filled with brilliant blue light, and large clusters of starlight were churning and flowing like nebulae, gradually wrapping the entire stone platform within them; furthermore, at the very highest point above, at the mouth of the bottle, a massive vortex composed of starlight began to condense and take shape, while at the same time, an ancient, primordial aura emerged from the pitch-black depths at the center of the vortex.

"Roar~"

From deep within the soft ground, a muffled roar could be faintly heard.

Xu Chen was very familiar with this roar; it should be the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus.

Furthermore, accompanying the roar, the entire ground began to emit violent thumping vibrations, and fine cracks began to appear; from within the cracks, blue light kept bursting forth, as if the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus trapped inside also wanted to break through the seal and emerge.

As the ground continuously shook and cracked, the starlight vortex above their heads also seemed faintly unstable; clusters of starlight kept dispersing and condensing, yet they could never fully stabilize into shape.

Xu Chen's heart raced with anxiety.

If nothing went wrong, the Blue Light Treasure Bottle should be actively trying to take the giant beast trapped on the stone platform inside, but the Mysterious Water Nether Lotus that had been taken in previously also wanted to seize the opportunity to break this layer of the seal and escape.

If these two great ferocious things were to strike at the same time, he feared the Blue Light Treasure Bottle would completely collapse.

What to do?

Xu Chen fell into a state of extreme panic.

He had survived several times by relying on the Blue Jade Bead and the Blue Light Treasure Bottle; now that the Jade Bead and the Treasure Bottle had merged into one, once the Treasure Bottle was destroyed, let alone escaping, he would likely be instantly ground into powder by the aura emitted by the two great ferocious things.

Meanwhile, Lan You was at a complete loss, her mind in total chaos; she had no idea what was happening before her eyes, knowing only that two increasingly powerful and terrifying auras were coming from both the sky and the earth, and the state of this Blue Light Treasure Bottle had completely exceeded her cognition and imagination.

She might have previously guessed that this Blue Light Treasure Bottle was a Magic Treasure of Xu Chen's.

But she had grown up in Yuqing Hall since she was a child and had seen countless Magic Treasures, yet when had she ever seen such a treasure with such power, capable of containing people and resisting the attacks of such terrifying, ferocious beasts?

Although she could not feel the terrifying power of the tentacle attacks that the Blue Light Treasure Bottle had been enduring,

she could judge the strength of the ferocious beast outside by its size and state.

Even if the Supreme Great Elder of Yuqing Hall, Chixia Zhenjun, were to come, he would likely not have the ability to contend with it.

Therefore, she could judge the level of this Blue Light Treasure Bottle: it was at least a Pseudo-Immortal Artifact surpassing level six, or even a True Immortal Artifact of grade seven or higher.

And after arriving at such an answer, Lan You's complexion suddenly turned bleak and ashen.

Possessing such a formidable Magic Treasure, Xu Chen had definitely shown mercy when he beat Yulong Zhenren into a coma back then, and what was even more ridiculous was that she had actually wanted to kill him when they first met.

Recalling the look of calm smiling on Xu Chen's face when she had attacked him back then, Lan You felt as childish and ridiculous as a clown.

But immediately, she began to think even further with a heart full of bitterness.

Xu Chen possessed such an heaven-defying Immortal Treasure and must surely wish to hide it deeply and not let it be leaked; right now, in order to take her and escape, he had to reveal the Immortal Treasure, and if she were to speak of it after knowing, then Xu Chen would very likely be coveted and killed by those Spirit Realm Great Cultivators to seize the treasure.

If this news were not to be leaked, then unless she died.

Would Xu Chen kill her?

Perhaps, in order to keep this secret for him, she should die, so as to spare him from being in a difficult position.

This woman, strapped to Xu Chen's back through a world-shaking battle, with their bodies pressed close and ears brushing against each other, found her thoughts in an utterly indescribable and extremely chaotic state.

(End of this chapter)