Chapter 338: Strange Creature

"Roar... whine..."

A voice extremely low and hoarse, as if a wail from across ten thousand ages of time and space, bearing the naiveté of a newborn and an indescribable icy texture, drifted faintly from the depths of the crack.

The sound was not loud, yet it made Lin Yifan's hair stand on end, his soul freezing.

It was not a sound any known creature could make, filled with a non-human, pure sense of "existence".

Spirit trembled in Lin Yifan's arms like a leaf in the wind, its throat emitting a suppressed, almost suffocating wail.

Even the ancestral bone's kinship aura could not dispel this primal, instinctive fear of a higher‑ranked existence,

"It's coming out!" Lin Yifan's inner alarm blared, the Dawnbreak Sword seal on his right arm scorching hot, the stored power ready to unleash.

His left hand pressed tightly against the Bloodsucking Vine bracelet, scorching like lava and nearly burning through his wrist; the will it transmitted was no longer simple fear or bloodlust, but a... chaos‑to‑the‑extreme frenzy!

It felt as if he faced a destined foe, yet also as if... the very source of hunger was screaming madly!

Boom!

At last, the eerie blue cocoon shell burst explosively amid a blinding flash of silver‑blue light!

There was no earth‑shaking roar, only a dull release of energy.

Countless eerie blue and silver specks of light scattered like stardust, casting the entire cavern in a bizarre, kaleidoscopic glow.

At the center of the light, a figure emerged.

Lin Yifan's pupils instantly contracted to needle points!

What... is that?

It was not the ferocious beast he imagined; its size was even a notch smaller than Spirit's, roughly that of a large dog. Yet its form made Lin Yifan's heart feel as if clenched by an icy hand!

Its body resembled a... young wolf? Or a fox?

Its entire body was cloaked in a darkness as deep as the void of space, a dim fur with no reflection, as if it could absorb all light.

Yet atop this ultimate darkness, countless fine silver patterns flowed and burned.

These patterns were not static; they drifted and flickered beneath the fur like living things, outlining an arcane, intricate, dizzying star‑map trajectory.

It was the embodiment of the galactic vortex pattern that had adorned the giant cocoon's surface earlier!

The strangest part was its head.

Its proportions were slightly oversized, the lines smooth and bearing an unnatural elegance. Its eyes... had no pupils.

Within each socket swirled two tiny silver star vortices, constantly rotating, collapsing, and regenerating.

Cold, hollow, gaze that seemed able to devour souls, emotionlessly scanning this newborn world, finally fixing on Lin Yifan and Spirit,

An indescribable chill surged instantly from Lin Yifan's coccyx up to his celestial spirit crown.

The moment those star‑vortex eyes gazed upon him, he felt everything laid bare, a freezing sting echoing in the depths of his soul!

"Wh..." Spirit let out a mournful wail, burying its head completely in Lin Yifan's arms, lacking even the courage to glance.

The gentle moonlight emitted by the massive Moonshadow Fox skeleton pulsed violently now, as if resisting this newborn existence.

Yet the dim little beast seemed unmoved by the skeleton's moonlight.

It appeared still adjusting its body, its limbs stumbling slightly.

Immediately after, it made a move that sent a shiver down Lin Yifan's scalp!

It did not look at Lin Yifan nor at Spirit, but suddenly lowered its head and opened its mouth—inside were not ordinary fangs but rows of fine, glittering metallic‑cold and eerie‑blue energy teeth, like shattered diamonds!

Snap!

It sank its bite into the ancestral Moonshadow Fox claw bone that radiated gentle moonlight, smooth as jade!

A tooth‑aching gnawing sound rang out!

The immensely hard, millennia‑old, immortal ancestral bone, imbued with great power, was, under the newborn beast's fangs, easily bitten off like a crisp biscuit! The moonlight flowing over the bone dimmed instantly.

The beast let out a satisfied, meaningless gurgle from its throat, and the silver star‑map patterns flowing on its dark fur flashed briefly.

It did not pause, lowering its head again, greedily gnawing!

Snap! Snap!

That sound rang especially harsh and terrifying in the silent cavern!

It was devouring the ancestor's bone!

"No!" Though frightened, Spirit's anger surged at the desecration of the ancestral remains, overwhelming fear, and it let out a sharp wail, struggling to leap out of Lin Yifan's arms!

Lin Yifan clutched it tightly, a tidal wave of emotion roiling inside him! What on earth is this monster?!

It had just been born, yet already displayed such terrifying power and bizarre behavior.

Clearly, this little thing is far from simple.

The Bloodsucking Vine bracelet's tremor reached an unprecedented peak, scorching so hot it nearly melted Lin Yifan's flesh!

A violent, greedy, destruction‑laden dark will, like a breached flood, continuously battered Lin Yifan's mental defenses.

It seemed intensely eager to pounce, to devour the little beast, or be devoured by it.

Two kindred yet diverging dark forces, separated by a short distance, generated a deadly attraction and repulsion!

The little beast seemed drawn by Spirit's wail and the sudden energy surge from Lin Yifan, pausing its gnawing briefly.

It slowly lifted its head, those rotating silver star‑vortex eyes once again locking onto Lin Yifan with cold, emotionless precision. The edge of its dark little mouth still bore specks of faintly glowing bone fragments.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

Lin Yifan's muscles tensed like iron, the Dawnbreak Sword seal beneath his right arm's skin burning, ready to become the final thunderous strike at any moment.

He stared fixedly at those non‑human star‑vortex eyes, his mind racing: fight? flee? or... gamble on an unknown communication?

The dim little beast again emitted an indecipherable gurgle from its throat, its fine shattered‑diamond fangs glinting deadly cold in the gloom.

It slightly lowered its body, and beneath its dark fur patterned with flowing star maps, some even more terrifying power seemed to gather slowly.

And the instant those rotating silver star‑vortex eyes locked on him, Lin Yifan's blood seemed to solidify throughout his body.

It was not a predator's gaze, but a colder, purer... annihilation!

No roar, no omen!

The dark figure, overlaid with flowing star‑map patterns, vanished from the spot as if it had teleported.

It wasn't that it was too fast; rather, the space around it seemed to warp for a moment!

In the next instant, Lin Yifan only felt an irresistible, terrifying suction with a sense of utter extinction materialize on his chest.

It was as if an invisible micro black hole formed in an instant, ready to completely devour and crush him and his soul!