C1003 Mutated Monster

Whoosh!

A gaunt demon with sharp, flesh-laden fangs emitted a low, eerie howl.

Baruch, fighting back his inner sorrow, quickly warned, "Be careful!"

Like an arrow, the emaciated demon shot forward, merging into Baruch's body as a dark gray shadow.

A ghastly gnawing sound soon emanated from within Baruch, sending shivers down the spine.

In short order, the second member of the Crypt Clan was consumed, leaving nothing behind.

With blade-like hands, the demon ripped through Baruch's flesh and emerged from within.

The demon's once withered frame now appeared fuller, its pale blue eyes gleaming with a cruel, bloodthirsty light. The visage of blue fangs unmistakably belonged to a member of the Blue Devil Clan from the Devaputra Race.

"Baruch!"

Grace from the Mondnacht Clan, horrified by the scene before her, let out a piercing scream.

Her scream instantly drew the attention of another demon.

Crack!

The demon's form quivered, shedding fragments of flesh to reveal the Asura Clan's physique beneath, as it bared its teeth in a guttural roar.

Grace, Benin, and Hart from the Silver Scale Clan clutched their ears, faces twisted in agony.

The Asura Clan warrior, now a demon, seized the moment to vanish into thin air. Grace barely had time to raise her gleaming staff before the demon's arm came crashing down with force.

Delicate Grace tried to fend off the blow with her staff, only to see it shatter, followed by her arm exploding into a mist of blood.

In an instant, the Asura demon's grip tightened around her pale neck, yanking violently.

Grace's head was severed from her neck, her blood spurting out like a fountain, as the demon eagerly lapped it up.

Meanwhile, the Blue Devil Clan demon, having dispatched Baruch, wasted no time in turning its attention to Benin, the Void Spirit Succubus.

A bizarre incantation in the language of Soul Demons filled Benin's ears, causing a fleeting daze.

Hart, unskilled in the art of souls, was doubly afflicted. First paralyzed by the Asura demon's roar, then assaulted by the Blue Devil Clan's demonic incantations, he fared even worse than Benin. Dragged into a nightmarish illusion, his soul wandered in torment.

The demon from the Blue Devil Clan launched itself like an arrow, intent on devouring Benin from the inside out.

Boom!

Striking what might as well have been a metal plate, the demon reeled, dazed, several of its razor-sharp fangs shattered.

Its eyes, having shifted from a pale to a deep blue, still blazed with a chaotic, crazed light. As it prepared to mount another assault, it instinctively sniffed out a dangerous presence.

Staring blankly, it gazed at the figure standing protectively before its intended victim.

"You..."

Benin, a member of the Void Spirit Succubus Clan, was at a loss as she looked upon Yu Yuan's back.

"You hail from the Void Spirit Succubus Clan. You're still of use."

Yu Yuan spoke with an icy detachment, his eyes slightly narrowed as he used the Qi and blood within him to sense that the demons before him had bloodlines ranging between the Seventh and Eighth Levels. Their internal energies were a chaotic mess, akin to the strange energies of the Nirvana Realm, comprised of dozens of disparate abilities.

Their souls, too, were cluttered with an excess of powers, including remnants of foreign souls and malevolent thoughts that did not belong in this realm.

"These are all uncontrollable demonic aberrations, not uncommon in parts of the Outland Star River that have been blighted. Most are eradicated by human cultivators and other intelligent life races. Those that escape cleansing continue to wage ceaseless battles against one another..."

Yu Yiyi's voice, the cauldron soul, informed Yu Yuan about the nature of the bizarre entities before him.

As she spoke, a burst of memory ignited within his Yin God soul, transforming into a stream of recollection that seared itself into his consciousness.

Before Yu Yiyi could finish, Yu Yuan had already grasped the origins of these demons, their means of survival and growth, and their ultimate fate.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

A longing tremor emanated from the crimson Life Altar within Yu Yuan's Qi and blood microcosm.

He let out a soft exclamation, glancing at his chest before turning his attention back to the demons.

These oddities had piqued the interest of the Life Altar, stirring a yearning within it to consume and refine them. Could it be?

Yu Yuan scoffed inwardly.

Ah! The howls and whimpers!

The trembling of the Life Altar instilled a primal fear in the demons, who had somehow broken free from their constraints.

Abandoning their attacks on Benin and Hart, they dragged the bodies of Grace and the two brothers from the Crypt Clan as they fled in haste.

The Evil Cauldron, previously hovering above Yu Yuan's head, abruptly soared into the sky. Utilizing its elevated perspective, Yu Yuan was astonished to witness the demons below fiercely battling over a few corpses. In the distance, he noticed caves in the mountainside, from which uncontrollable mutated monsters emerged. The more powerful among them immediately sought out prey to hunt, devouring their kills whole in a savage display.

"It seems they prioritize hunting those who are not yet out of control—fresh, living beings whose flesh is a delicacy to them. Without such prey, they target weaker demons. The weaker ones, in turn, hunt down even weaker creatures, consuming them to grow stronger and advance their bloodlines..." Yu Yiyi's voice echoed in his mind.

After a while, having grasped the behavior of these demons through the cauldron's vision, Yu Yuan shifted his attention. He turned to face Benin and Hart, whose expressions were steeped in sorrow. The pair, who had just lost three companions, were initially grief-stricken but hastily retreated at Yu Yuan's gaze. They looked at him with a fear that mirrored their terror of the man-eating monsters.

Humans from the Boundless Great World, once they ventured into the Outland Star River, might not act as bloodthirstily as the mutated monsters of the Nirvana Realm, but there were undeniable similarities in their nature. They, too, regarded Yu Yuan with dread.

"If you wish to die, feel free to leave and seek vengeance against those demons," Yu Yuan said with a composed assurance, knowing full well the fate of their fallen comrades.

At his words, Benin and Hart managed to stifle their sorrow. "What do you want from us?" Hart asked, his voice quivering.

"You're of no use to me," Yu Yuan replied, his brow furrowed.

At this, Benin, with her exquisite features, seemed to realize something and was on the verge of tears. "I—I am not yet of age, according to the standards of our Void Spirit Succubus Clan."

"Your age is irrelevant to me," Yu Yuan responded coldly.

"I'd rather fight those demons!" Benin exclaimed.

"Suit yourself," Yu Yuan said with a nonchalant shrug. "Actually, your soul could provide me with plenty of information. Rest assured, before your soul fades, my cauldron can extract a wealth of useful insights."

"What exactly do you want to do?" Benin asked, her tension easing somewhat.

She then noticed the grayish-white stone entangled in the massive "spider web." After a moment's hesitation, she ventured, "Is the new fissure in Sky Rift Valley due to that stone? Could the material be the same as the Heaven Opening Divine Stone lost by my clan?"

Yu Yuan was tempted to reveal that the stone was indeed the Heaven Opening Divine Stone of the Void Spirit Succubus Clan, but he held back. Instead, he explained, "The spatial cracks in the valley are increasing, but they will eventually stabilize—some will even allow for teleportation. I'm not well-versed in the intricacies of space, so I need you to guide me on which fissures can be used for safe teleportation and their potential destinations."

"I see," Hart said, feeling a slight lift in his spirits.

He forced himself not to dwell on Grace's death or that of his two Crypt Clan companions, constantly reminding himself to stay cool and collected.

"Do you wish to leave the Nirvana Realm safely?" he inquired.

Yu Yuan nodded in affirmation.

"We do as well," Hart added quickly.

His desire was to return as soon as possible to the Domain Boundary, where the advanced intelligent races were active, to report the anomalies of the Nirvana Realm. This would allow more powerful beings to come forth and address the issue of the mutated monsters.

"That stone!"

Benin from the Void Spirit Succubus Clan suddenly cried out, pointing at the assembled Dragon Slash Platform.

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