The smirking beast opened its mouth so wide it looked like half of its head would be torn off. As Liu Xing saw this, his heart beat faster and faster, as if it would explode. The ball of meat, while disgusting, was full of qi. It was like an entire ocean of qi compressed into a ball shape. Not only that, but this qi was familiar. It belonged to Elder Xia Juetian. There was no doubt that the ball contained the entire cultivation of Elder Xia Juetian, and if Liu Xing's suspicion was correct, it also contained his Golden Tiger bloodline.
If that spirit beast ate the ball of meat, its cultivation would soar greatly. It would probably break through from the Core Splitting realm into the Sun Refining realm.
"What do I do?" Liu Xing's voice trembled.
He was tempted to jump and snatch the ball of meat. But by doing so, he would commit suicide. Yet, he needed to do something. Otherwise, this spirit beast would become a threat he couldn't contain.
As the ball of meat got closer and closer to its mouth, Liu Xing's brain filled with doubt and dilemma. Half of his mind rationalized that he could flee right here and now. He was too weak. He would die if he was reckless. But the other half screamed that if he fled now, he would undoubtedly become a coward. Let alone becoming a legend, he wouldn't even become a great inner disciple if he chose the easy way out.
Ultimately, Liu Xing realized that he needed to find a compromise that fulfilled all that his brain wanted. He wanted a way to prevent the spirit beast from eating the meatball and to live. That was the true thing he wanted.
As the meatball was right in front of its mouth, its white teeth wriggling like excited maggots about to be fed, Liu Xing still didn't know what to do, but he had to do something.
He stood atop his shield and aimed with his gun. This time, he held the gun with both hands, afraid he would miss. Then, he filled his gun with bullets infused with Exploding Fist. He could feel the six bullets with his senses. While they didn't differ too much from his usual exploding bullets, these were stronger after he had consumed one and a half Diamond Pills. Liu Xing understood that these bullets couldn't kill the two spirit beasts. But at the very least, they could give him time. Time that could be used to think of a better solution.
As the spirit beast tried to bite the ball of meat, Liu Xing pulled the trigger repeatedly. Six blue glowing bolts shot through the air. At the same time, the two spirit beasts snapped their heads. The worms tunneled into the ground, while the spirit beast with blue snakes as its arms jumped to the side.
Liu Xing decided to jump off the shield and free fall to the ground, his mind racing to find a solution. Obviously, he couldn't kill them. The winning condition was to snatch or destroy the ball of meat. As he thought about this, he remembered his fight with the moss. In a sense, this fight would be similar. The difference was he didn't need to consume anything.
"Or, I can," Liu Xing muttered.
Obviously, eating a ball of meat filled with qi from a Core Splitting cultivator and probably containing their bloodline would be too dangerous. There was a possibility he would die if he consumed that ball of meat. Moreover, there was also the moral aspect to consider. What he thought of consuming was actually the Diamond Pills. He had three left, and it seemed like those three pills would increase his chance of survival.
Liu Xing gritted his teeth. He snatched the three Diamond Pills from his spatial bag and consumed them one by one. As the qi exploded from his mouth, he felt like a frog falling into a pit of lava. The pain was unbearable, but it also made him more alert of his surroundings.
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When he landed softly on the ground, behind a toppled white bone tree, he peeked at the spirit beast with snakes as its arms. It still looked up at his shield.
He bet on his invisibility and ran as fast yet as softly as possible toward the spirit beast. His bullets could be detected, his lightning blade would also be detected. Which meant the only thing he could do was to get as close as possible and take the meatball with his own hand.
It was a stupid and terrifying plan, and yet, he couldn't think of another more sophisticated solution.
As he got closer to the spirit beast, he could clearly see its pale body and torso, its four snakes as limbs, and could also smell a sweet aroma emanating from its apple-like ears. The pale hand jutting from it had a yellow eye, and this yellow eye looked left and right, as if searching for him. Then, as if Liu Xing crossed a boundary, the yellow eye and the spirit beast snapped their eyes toward him, and he felt the ground tremble.
With wide eyes and a panicked heart, Liu Xing realized that his position was busted. He kicked the ground as hard as he could. A giant worm with a human face emerged from the ground with its mouth wide open.
He focused his gaze on the remains of Elder Xia Juetian and activated his lightning blade. He willed the blade to become so thin that it looked like a thread, and then swung it directly at the meatball.
A blue wall appeared right in front of his whipping thread, but the wall split into two, and his lightning thread came right at the meatball. For a moment, he thought he would succeed. While this spirit beast was so strong, its technique was tailored to fight Elder Xia Juetian, not Liu Xing. He thought he had a chance, but one of the blue snakes came at his thread, opened its maw, and snapped its jaw. His lightning thread was easily destroyed like a scissor cutting a thin thread.
The spirit beast smirked, using one snake-hand to drop the meatball into its mouth.
Liu Xing filled his gun with exploding bullets and shot rapidly at the spirit beast. But the blue snake opened its maw widely, moved its body rapidly, and swallowed his six bullets. Its stomach bulged for a moment, as if there was an explosion on its stomach, but it didn't die. Liu Xing shouted and shot rapidly again, desperately trying to stop this spirit beast from eating the remains of Elder Xia Juetian. But each of his bullets was swallowed by that snake, and even one that luckily passed that snake was caught by the pale hand.
As gravity pulled him down, Liu Xing summoned his shield, and as his feet touched down, the ball of meat was already in the spirit beast's mouth. It closed its mouth, looking like a squirrel stuffing food inside its cheeks. Then, it swallowed hard. The ball of meat traveled from its mouth to its throat and into its belly.
The spirit beast started laughing. This laugh was different from the cackling of a madman. It was more like a bully desperately trying not to laugh and failing after shaming his junior.
Seeing this, Liu Xing gritted his teeth. He had failed. Not only had he let that spirit beast eat the remains of Elder Xia Juetian, but he had also wasted the Diamond Pills. While the pills weren't entirely wasted, the chance of him becoming an inner disciple was reduced.
Then, a golden aura suddenly spread from the spirit beast's belly. This golden aura seemed like the aura of Elder Xia Juetian, and it grew stronger each second. The golden aura surrounded the spirit beast, which was now cackling madly like before it changed bodies, and Liu Xing felt its qi surge like a lake from a broken dam. He didn't know whether this spirit beast was undergoing a breakthrough or trying to evolve, but the certain thing was, this spirit beast had now become stronger than before.
As he observed with his heart beating fast and dread filling his heart, the giant worm spirit beast emerged from the ground and jumped like a launching rocket toward him. Its pink body moved so fast it looked like a blur. Seeing this, Liu Xing kicked the shield as hard as he could, launching himself high into the sky. As he launched himself, and the worm tried to take a bite of his shield, Liu Xing dismissed the shield.
As he flew into the sky, he still observed the spirit beast now surrounded by a golden aura. The golden aura shone so bright it looked like a second sun had suddenly emerged below. And then, this shining aura split into seven smaller golden auras.
As Liu Xing's head touched a white cloud, he could see that these seven glowing auras were receding, and what he saw made his blood run cold. Liu Xing summoned his shield, stood atop it, and tried to peer below like a man trying to see the street from the top of an apartment building.
"There's no way, right?"