C578 Gigantic Crocodile Carrying Warship
The landscape was a portrait of desolation, a cold, silent aura of decay hanging heavy in the air.
As the mist cleared, not a trace of spiritual energy lingered. The earth before him was parched and fissured, the once-majestic trees long dead, their timelines lost to the ages.
Then, out of nowhere, a colossal crocodile sprawled across the ground came into view.
The behemoth stood over thirty feet tall and stretched nearly three hundred feet in length, its body resembling a rugged, brown mountain range. Even at a great distance, its presence exuded a palpable sense of brutality and bloodlust.
A dense vital energy wafted from the crocodile's hide, unable to fully escape its massive form.
Spiked thorns adorned the creature's forehead, each one sharp and icy to the touch.
Yu Yuan's heart jolted at the sight. It took him back to the trial in the Embers Sea, to the Crucible of Evil he had once mistaken for an underwater cavern, and to the scene within its contained little world.
This crocodile was a mirror image of that one—identical in size and equally ferocious in demeanor.
The difference lay in the fact that the crocodile within the Crucible of Evil had been worn away by time, its essence consumed by the Bane. It had long since perished, leaving nothing of value behind.
But this crocodile was a different story.
Even from this great distance, just one glance sent a shiver through Yu Yuan's spine.
Whoosh! The vital energy surrounding the crocodile, emanating from its blood and flesh, swirled like a tempestuous blood cloud. The overwhelming, wild energy it released could make those of lesser cultivation feel as though they were choking.
"Stabilize the Profound Gate's acupoints!" Zhao Jie of the Nightbane Sect called out, cautioning Zhang Miao to proceed with care.
The Whisperling, aged and decrepit, clasped Zhang Manman's wrist with her gnarled hand, channeling a surge of vitality to help her sister sort through the chaos of her own.
Zhang Manman's cultivation was pitifully weak; she was little more than a puppet.
Her care for Zhang Manman was born of necessity—her sister was vulnerable yet indispensable to Zhang Miao.
Her true concern, however, lay with her younger sister, Zhang Miao.
Zhang Miao breathed softly, and on the wings of her nose, two slender beams of vitality, as delicate as white dragons, silently took shape.
She executed an intricate spell, fine-tuning the little world of her vitality to shield it from the influence of the vitality sea emanating from the crocodile's body, thus preventing any berserk outbursts.
"Hehe."
Standing beneath the crocodile's massive head, Tan Yuan of the Forgeroses appeared minuscule in comparison.
Her hands moved across her chest, weaving a spell, and she uttered a single word: "Whoosh!"
This word, imbued with the profound resonance of a mystical sound, instantly triggered abnormal fluctuations within the vitality sea, making the thick vitality churn like a colossal wave.
Zhang Miao, who had been discreetly casting her spell, let out a muffled groan as the two slender white dragons at her nostrils instantly dispersed.
A savage and domineering wave of vital energy, like an apocalyptic iron fist, burst forth from the crocodile's vitality sea, slamming into the little world of the Profound Gate of everyone present!
"Stop messing around."
Zhao Jie, slightly annoyed, shot Tan Yuan a disapproving glance.
She paused, taken aback.
She realized that her old friend wasn't targeting Zhang Miao or Zhang Manman at all; in fact, she hadn't even glanced their way.
Tan Yuan's gaze was fixed on Yu Yuan, her eyes filled with a teasing glint.
"So, she stirred the crocodile's vitality to intimidate that young man. But..." Zhao Jie's brow furrowed slightly, her expression puzzled, "It's pointless."
Yan Qiling, too, watched Yu Yuan with astonishment.
The ferocious energy contained in the vitality sea that radiated from the crocodile's body was set off by Tan Yuan, who was adept in physical techniques. She used rhythmic ancient syllables to create a wave of strange power that could resonate with the little world of the Profound Gate in everyone.
Clearly, this was a direct challenge to Yu Yuan!
Zhang Manman, caught in the blast, needed Zhao Jie's assistance to emerge unscathed.
Zhang Miao, of a higher realm and already having condensed her Lunar Spirit, struggled to defend against the onslaught with her mystique. Despite her efforts, her little world of vitality eventually faltered, leaving her slightly wounded.
Yet Yu Yuan seemed utterly unfazed.
"Senior, are you testing me?"
Yu Yuan pointed to his nose, chuckling wryly, then continued with an air of composure towards the prostrate crocodile, "This extraterrestrial creature hasn't been dead for long. Otherwise, as time passed, even the most potent and rich vitality would have vanished without a trace."
No one knew that he was not only unaffected but also struggling mightily to resist the cravings within his heart! The Blood Altar, crafted from fragments of the Abyssal Leviathan's Sunsorrow, radiated a captivating blood light within the little world. At that moment, the Blood Altar seemed to transform into a cosmic giant beast, eager to devour all life, exuding an intense thirst for blood. Suppressing this desire proved to be an extraordinary challenge!
Utilizing the Blood Altar and the Crucible of Evil, Yu Yuan had slain Fellbeasts in the Forgotten Ruins, refining their flesh and blood to temper his body. Through repeated trials, he had reached the late period of the Veil Breaking Realm. One more step, and he could smoothly break through to the Subtlety Realm. He had believed his body's refinement had peaked, with no further need to focus on flesh and blood construction. Yet, in this moment, feeling the Blood Altar's yearning, he sensed every cell, every drop of blood, every tendon in his body pulsating with anticipation!
His entire being seemed infused with the essence of the Blood Altar, greedily craving the dense vitality of the giant crocodile. "The Evil Body Refining technique of the Terror Claws is truly impressive," Tan Yuan remarked. After waiting a while and seeing that Yu Yuan showed no signs of distress, and the little world of vitality remained stable against her expectations, she couldn't help but express her admiration.
Zhang Miao, a Lunar Spirit Realm cultivator and the Nightbane's promising new talent, seen as the heir to the Whisperling, still struggled after casting her spell. Yu Yuan, who had not yet reached the Subtlety Realm and was only in the Veil Breaking Realm, had withstood the covert assault of the giant crocodile's vitality!
Tan Yuan, who prided herself on her high standards, had always believed that only the Forgeroses' body tempering technique was the strongest in the world. When she was taken in by the Forgeroses, the Terror Claws had already fallen into oblivion. She was always skeptical when others compared the Forgeroses to the Terror Claws. She dismissed it as mere exaggeration.
However, in her attempt to challenge Yu Yuan and test the might of the Evil Body Refining technique, she found herself thoroughly convinced, no longer underestimating the Terror Claws.
A flicker of fear surfaced within her heart.
"Too powerful, too bizarre, it defies logic," Tan Yuan murmured under her breath.
"Yu Yuan, it's been a while!"
Out of nowhere, a figure emerged from the shadows behind the giant crocodile.
He greeted Yu Yuan with a bow from a distance, then with a beaming smile and a fist-and-palm salute, he said, "I've been assigned to use the vitality of this giant crocodile to refine my body. Your affairs, however, are not my concern."
"Du Huang!" Yu Yuan exclaimed in surprise, "You? Are you here on behalf of the Forgeroses, or on your own?"
Du Huang, who had led the Forgeroses' trial-takers in the Embers Sea, was a notable figure among the sect's new generation and held in high esteem.
Yu Yuan couldn't help but wonder if the entire Forgeroses was now siding with Shen Feiqing.
This was a significant concern.
The Forgeroses was one of the seven great lower sects and, at its zenith, had the potential to challenge the upper sects!
Despite being fragmented due to ideological conflicts, it remained one of the formidable lower sects.
If such a sect were to fully align with the enigmatic figure shrouded in mist, the stakes would be raised considerably.
"I am my own person, and the Forgeroses is the Forgeroses," Du Huang said, scratching his head in slight embarrassment. "I was adopted by my master as a child, and I follow his commands."
His words implied that his master, along with Shen Feiqing and Tan Yuan, were now aligned.
"Master Du Huang was once my senior brother in the Forgeroses," Tan Yuan said with a gentle smile. "I was betrayed by my peers during a journey outside the sect. They thought I had perished, but I proved resilient and survived. Not only did I make it, but I also thrived, and my cultivation has not waned."
"And my senior brother? Upon learning of my survival and the truth of past events, he arranged for Du Huang to come here and train."
In just a few sentences, Tan Yuan recounted the old tale and provided a rough explanation.
There's nothing new under the sun. With Yu Yuan's own experiences, he could easily infer that the Forgeroses once sought to eliminate Tan Yuan, yet she managed to live on.
After Tan Yuan, Shen Feiqing was the one targeted and subsequently defected.
The individuals from the Forgeroses sect had established their own power base and even persuaded Du Huang's master to join their ranks.
"Giant crocodile, Forgeroses..."
Yu Yuan nodded thoughtfully as he approached Tan Yuan and Du Huang, stopping before the massive crocodile. His gaze drifted past the creature to the sparse forest behind, where the fragments of a warship lay scattered without any light to illuminate them, yet they still glimmered faintly.
He immediately connected this sight to the giant crocodile within the little world of the Crucible of Evil, which also bore an extraterrestrial Otherkin warship on its back.
A spark of realization led him to surmise that this colossal, bloodthirsty crocodile must have been enslaved and trained by a formidable extraterrestrial Otherkin race. Like an old turtle bearing a load or a land dragon supporting a boulder, it transported the warships through the depths of the Star River, clashing with foreign adversaries.
"Is this place in the extraterrestrial realm or the Godsblight Marsh?"
Yu Yuan turned to Yan Qiling, who was leisurely exploring the area, and voiced the uncertainty that weighed on his mind.
"We're still within the Everlands, in the Godsblight Marsh," Yan Qiling replied with a smirk. "Someone with vast power has managed to pull a fragment of an abandoned corner of the extraterrestrial Star River into this place."
Yu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. "As long as we're still in the Everlands, that's good."
He had previously thought that after traversing the light-speed space tunnel, he would have left the Everlands and entered the Star River of the extraterrestrial realm.
Without having refined his Solar Spirit, he lacked the qualifications to soar into the extraterrestrial. At present, he was too weak, nowhere near the point of being able to explore the cosmos on his own.
"Extracting fragments of the extraterrestrial world, concealing heavenly secrets, and integrating them into the marsh—impressive tactics," Yan Qiling remarked, shifting her focus back to Tan Yuan. "The master of this place must have quite the significant background. What's his connection to the Untamed? How does the Untamed permit such unrestrained behavior?"
"It's not the Untamed?" Yu Yuan exclaimed in surprise.
"Of course not," Tan Yuan said.
