Chapter 285 - 276: Centipede Hunt

Chapter 285: Chapter 276: Centipede Hunt

The once-majestic Commander’s Mansion, as if its spine had been abruptly ripped out, gradually collapsed amidst the churning mud and rubble.

The rising dust and smoke billowed upward, clashing with the descending rain and mist to form a murky, gray haze.

Fu Juemin stood on a fallen roof beam, watching the ruins and the entire ground before him slowly crumble and sink.

The mangled corpse of Luo Zhengxiong was swallowed by the shifting rubble and mud, quickly vanishing from sight.

What followed was a vast and motley surge of Demon Soul Force.

Fu Juemin closed his eyes. In a daze, he seemed to hear the furious, unwilling roars of Luo Zhengxiong before his death.

Wisps of black mist, imperceptible to the naked eye, rose from his body, coalescing into a massive black cloud behind him. The cloud churned violently, occasionally revealing the colossal and ferocious silhouettes of giant pythons, toads, and Demon Boars.

Terrifying roars echoed from within from time to time, as if a frenzied struggle was taking place inside...

When this power gradually subsided, the immense black cloud vanished, and the silken shadows swirling around Fu Juemin dispersed.

He opened his eyes, which now held only a placid calm. His body had also returned to its normal state.

Rainwater pelted his naked body, its icy touch seeping through his skin.

Compared to the last time he activated the Second Form of his Demon Body, Fu Juemin was undoubtedly in much better condition.

The reason was Gui Cang.

After a single drop of Innate Primordial Liquid had detonated, an unimaginably vast surge of Vital Energy had deeply stimulated the full potential of his several Talents, sustaining Fu Juemin’s incomparably terrifying Demon Body.

But during that process, the vast majority of the Vital Energy had actually overflowed, drained away, and gone to waste.

Gui Cang’s effect was to restrain qi and nourish the body from within. Fu Juemin tried activating it, and just as he expected, it intercepted and gathered some of the Vital Energy back, preventing his condition from hitting rock bottom.

Simply put, once the Demon Body’s Second Form was activated, it was originally irreversible. He could only exit the state after completely exhausting the detonated Innate Primordial Liquid.

Gui Cang, however, gave Fu Juemin the ability to terminate it early. In the end, only a tiny bit of the Innate Primordial Liquid "reclaimed" from his limbs and bones remained, but this was far better than the outcome of complete exhaustion and Qi Blood depletion.

Fu Juemin even had enough power to activate his Demon Body again and continue fighting, though it would only last for an extremely short time.

’Activating the Second Form in the Four Souls state is a completely different experience from activating it in the Three Souls state...’

’With the Three Souls state active, the power was explosive and terrifying, but my Demon Body was still relatively stable.’

’But with the Four Souls state active, I felt like I was constantly on the verge of collapse and losing control, just like when I first comprehended the Demon Body...’

Fu Juemin lowered his gaze in the rain, thinking silently.

His Martial Dao had advanced to Gratitude, he had achieved Five Beasts Great Success and Five Poison Great Success, and his strength had increased immeasurably since his last confrontation with Luo Zhengxiong. He had long since neared perfect control over the Three Souls in One Body state and could even handle the Four Souls in One Body state well.

This was because the Martial Dao was the foundation of his strength, the framework of his entire Demon Martial Arts power system. With a stable frame, filling it in and building upon it was naturally a breeze.

But after activating the Second Form in the Four Souls state, this "framework" of his suddenly seemed insufficient again.

His entire Demon Body was on the verge of a Frenzy—below the chest, he could only barely maintain a humanoid form, even with all his effort.

’After this battle, I’ll have to keep adding points to upgrade my Dragon Elephant Skill and Pharmacist Skill.’

’And the remaining two of the four great Iron Body Strange Skills of the Martial Arts world...’

The Martial Dao was the root of all his power. Only by constantly reinforcing this foundation, expanding and perfecting the entire framework, could he hope to one day build a tower that reaches the heavens upon it.

Fu Juemin finished his brief summary and checked his character panel.

Killing Luo Zhengxiong, the Demon Commander, had not been for nothing.

After killing Luo Zhengxiong, his Skill Points had increased by one.

It wasn’t much, but then again, Commander Luo wasn’t a proper, naturally born Demon Fiend.

But at the moment of Luo Zhengxiong’s death, he had also absorbed something akin to a Demon Soul Seed.

Because this Demon Soul was motley and artificially fused, it didn’t provide him with any new Talent Abilities... But after devouring it, the several Demon Souls within him had all grown to varying degrees.

The most obvious change was to Soft Bone. Its color had changed from grayish-white to a bright white, and its ability seemed to have undergone some subtle changes as well. As for what those changes were, Fu Juemin would need to study it closely to find out.

By now, the trembling, collapsing ground had settled.

Where the Commander’s Mansion once stood, there was now a massive crater.

The battle between his and Luo Zhengxiong’s Non-human Level powers had all but demolished the vast Commander’s Mansion.

Luo Zhengxiong had specially built this Commander’s Mansion to conceal the Demon Fiend laboratory beneath it. The ground under the entire mansion had been hollowed out, so it was never as sturdy as it appeared from the outside.

And after his final move, Sumeru Incline, killed Luo Zhengxiong, the force had transferred into the ground, completely shattering that "brittle" layer. This triggered a domino-like chain reaction of collapse, burying the space below entirely.

Fu Juemin could sense some faint Demon Fiend auras remaining deep underground. They likely belonged to those "Demon Fiend test subjects" he had seen with Luo Zhengxiong last time.

The passage to the underground laboratory was completely buried, and he couldn’t be bothered to dig a tunnel just for a few small fry.

Most importantly, Fu Juemin hadn’t come here solely to kill Luo Zhengxiong.

He still had something more important to do.

Fu Juemin leaped down from the fallen beam, his bare feet landing with a squelch in a muddy puddle.

Heavy rain poured down, and the sound of thunder and lightning periodically rumbled overhead.

Fu Juemin scanned his surroundings and, by the light of a lightning flash, quickly located a gigantic butcher’s knife stabbed diagonally into the rubble!

He walked over, gripped the handle with both hands, and pulled—

With a long, piercing SHIIING, he yanked the massive blade out from between the bricks.

The blade was reminiscent of Fu Juemin’s previous Black Iron Spear; a single glance revealed it was a die-cast product of Western World industrial technology.

The entire blade was two meters long, over a meter wide at its broadest point, and nearly half a palm thick... Wielded by the five-meter-tall Luo Zhengxiong, it had looked like a gigantic butcher’s knife.

To an ordinary person, however, it was no different from a solid steel door.

Fu Juemin tested it. In his normal state, he could barely even drag it.

He and Luo Zhengxiong had utterly destroyed the Commander’s Mansion, yet no one had come to investigate. One could only imagine how intense the battle on the front lines must be.

That was a true Human-Centipede War!

Even from here, Fu Juemin could hear the continuous, intense roar of cannon fire in the distance.

In the pouring rain, a naked Fu Juemin dragged the ridiculously oversized, door-like greatblade, walking step by step out of the ruins and toward the military barracks.

A sudden flash of lightning illuminated Fu Juemin’s face, revealing an inexplicable light dancing wildly in his eyes.

Killing Luo Zhengxiong, to Fu Juemin, was merely an appetizer.

He subconsciously licked his rain-soaked lips, his pace gradually quickening.

The true main course in his mind was actually the Flood Dragon Level Centipede Spirit he had lured from Friend Mountain to the Jianghai Defense Command!

He had wanted to use the Centipede Spirit’s power to tie down Luo Zhengxiong’s nearly ten thousand elite soldiers, giving him enough time and space to kill the commander. At the same time, he also wanted to use the lives of the countless soldiers and the firepower of countless guns on this base to wear down the Centipede Spirit’s strength!

It was a plan to kill two birds with one stone.

Next, he was going to—

Kill the Demon, take its Soul!

If he missed this opportunity, heaven knew if there would ever be another.

This was a Flood Dragon Level Great Demon that could alter the weather with its Demon Qi alone!

And moreover...

It was the Centipede Demon he had always dreamed of!

...