Chapter 174 - 173: A Desperate Remedy

Chapter 174: Chapter 173: A Desperate Remedy

Feng Ling was surprised, but then again, it was to be expected.

The Maze always placed the Divine Statue in a very conspicuous location, as if it were afraid the players wouldn’t be able to find it.

On Sanqing Mountain, the Divine Statue had been in the center of Fox Village. This time, it was in the middle of the woods.

She slowly approached the Divine Statue.

The smiling face on the stone table had a friendly look, perhaps because the layer of snow covering it added a touch of playfulness.

Feng Ling circled the Divine Statue and said, "Once all the Pollution Bodies here are wiped out, those Inspectors and Hunters with excessively high Pollution Values can all come here to draw Cards."

’This might be the only good thing to come from a shattered Maze,’ she thought.

Of course, not all broken Mazes left behind a Divine Statue.

—If the Divine Statue was located very close to the Maze Master, then after the Maze Master was killed, everything in that area, including the Divine Statue, would vanish from the map.

Li Qing said, "We should still focus on finding the Pollution Body as quickly as possible."

Feng Ling pursed her lips. ’As if I don’t want to hurry,’ she thought.

"Daoist, did you know? Even at full speed, a python can only move about five kilometers per hour, while a human long-distance runner can reach twenty-one kilometers per hour," Feng Ling said earnestly. "This is as fast as I can go."

A python’s anatomy dictates that it doesn’t capture prey by pursuit, but rather relies on explosive ambushes to hunt.

Huangfu Miaomiao couldn’t help but ask, "The Card she digested was The Queen Mother of the West, so how did she turn into a giant python?"

"Perhaps it’s a recessive gene," Li Qing said. "Giant pythons have incredibly strong reproductive and survival abilities. This gene aligns with the characteristics of the Nest, so it became especially prominent. Besides, humanity has revered snakes since ancient times. In the minds of the ancients, a serpentine body was the form closest to the divine."

"The main reason the ancients revered snakes was because they’re especially fertile, right?" Feng Ling couldn’t help but quip.

She inspected the area around the Divine Statue, ending the idle chatter.

"The tracks on the ground are a mess. The Pollution Body must have been wandering nearby. I just don’t know if it used the Divine Statue to draw a Card," Feng Ling said.

"You still want to save her?" Li Qing asked.

Feng Ling faltered. She had only been speaking offhandedly, but now that Li Qing had asked, she subconsciously began to consider the question.

"Well, do you think she can still be saved?" she asked him back.

Li Qing shook his head. "I’m not sure. If she hasn’t used the Divine Statue, we could perhaps give it a try."

He paused for two seconds before adding, "But don’t get your hopes up. If her Pollution Value has already reached fifty or sixty percent, removing a single Card is basically meaningless."

Feng Ling grew thoughtful.

She remembered Huangfu Miaomiao saying that a Pollution Value over 50% was equivalent to madness. Exceeding 60% or 70% caused the body to mutate uncontrollably, followed by a sudden, violent death.

"It’s a last-ditch effort, I suppose," Feng Ling sighed softly.

A familiar wail echoed from the woods.

Feng Ling followed the sound and quickly found her target.

The monster wasn’t deliberately hiding itself; it was simply curled up under a tree, howling in agony and tearing at its own skin and hair, completely devoid of reason.

The legs that Feng Ling had crushed earlier had already grown back, and patterned moth wings were now sprouting from its back.

Logically, an Angel’s back should sprout white, feathered wings, not these fuzzy insect wings covered in scale powder.

It didn’t know this was the source of its suffering.

The Blazing Angel within its body was trying to seize control. The energy of its flames gathered along the spine, the intense heat destroying the foundation of the wings. But the body would self-repair, continuing to grow the moth wings—

This cycle of torment was gradually driving it insane.

Its deranged mind didn’t know how to relieve the pain and could only vent by endlessly tearing at itself. But when it sensed Feng Ling’s approach, all its rage finally found an outlet!

The monster shrieked and lunged at Feng Ling!

The two waves of spiritual power slammed into each other once again!

Huangfu Miaomiao and Li Qing were both frozen in place, their faces deathly pale.

Feng Ling’s cone spikes shot forward!

The monster made no attempt to dodge, allowing its body to be pierced! At the same time, it took the opportunity to viciously swing its long, sharp right claw!

CLANG!—

A piercing metallic sound rang out, and a clear scratch mark was left on the Silver Scales on Feng Ling’s chest.

The monster roared and resumed its frenzied assault!

It wasn’t completely brainless, however; it knew to attack Feng Ling’s face, where her scales were thinnest.

Feng Ling used her Teeth and Claws to grip the monster’s shoulders and stop its advance. Then, repeating her earlier tactic, she bit through the shoulder bone of its right arm, tearing the limb off.

She was about to tear off its left arm as well but remembered she might need it to draw a Card. She held back, simply binding it with her coils and turning to move toward the Divine Statue.

Ensnared by the giant python’s coils, the monster let out piercing shrieks as it struggled hysterically!

As it struggled, its back arched violently. The two moth wings gradually charred and turned black as the fire inside seared its flesh. The pain was like the mutual rejection of two incompatible organs forced together.

"Hurry up," Li Qing urged nervously.

"I’m a python, not a swamp eel," Feng Ling snapped back, annoyed.

She used her cone spikes to bind the monster’s body, gripped its shoulders with her Teeth and Claws, and forcibly pressed it down onto the stone bench in front of the Divine Statue—

"Why isn’t the Divine Statue reacting?" Feng Ling frowned. "Is it because she already drew a Card here once?"

"It is reacting, but only the person themselves can see the card-drawing interface," Li Qing said. "I’m an administrator, so I can see it too."

Li Qing took a few steps closer, his expression serious as he examined the monster’s card deck.

"There are nine Cards in total. The main Card is Blazing Angel, followed in order by Heavenly Horse, Knight, Undead Spider, Imperial Moth, Imperial Moth, Hyena, Black Goat, and Squirrel," Li Qing recited one by one.

"No tiger? Or a lion?" Feng Ling strained to hold the monster down. "Look at all those misshapen legs it has. One of them is clearly a tiger or lion’s paw. How could there not be a corresponding Card?"

Li Qing said in a low voice, "It must be because they’re polluted. Remember the little ball of dirt I showed you? The system can’t extract information from shattered Cards. The fact that we can even pull nine Cards is extremely lucky."

The monster was still roaring, its back arching more and more violently. Even through her scales, Feng Ling could feel the searing heat.

"Quick, pick the one with the highest Pollution Value!" This time it was her turn to rush Li Qing. "Faster, faster!"

Li Qing’s gaze shifted between the Cards, trapped in indecision.

The Blazing Angel symbolized concepts like light, justice, and retribution.

The subsequent Heavenly Horse and Knight Cards were clearly handpicked by the Inspection Bureau for Ye Zheng to digest, specifically to cultivate the Blazing Angel main Card.

However, all the Cards after those skewed toward darkness and evil, causing every one of them to carry an extremely high Pollution Value.

It was all too deliberate.

This wasn’t an accident. This was premeditated.