Rise Of The Worm Sovereign

Tian Chu was stuck to Lin Wu's side, hanging by a spike that extended from his body. She hadn't even realized when she was picked up by it and brought here. She was far too overwhelmed to do anything on her own and could only be carried by Lin Wu.

But still, it was a strange feeling for her as the appearance of Lin Wu and his actions didn't seem to match for her.

Tian Han was feeling the opposite though and thought that Lin Wu's actions and words matched accurately. His appearance made one feel terrified and his actions intimidated.

"Wh-why… Wh-what do you want?" Tian Han asked while stammering.

"What I want?" Lin Wu replied. "Well, there are a lot of things that I want. But if you mean what I want from you, there are just a couple." He added.

Tian Han heard each and every word with focus, knowing that this might determine his survival right now. 

"What is it then?" Tian Han asked.

"Hmm… rather responsive, aren't you?" Lin Wu said, feeling amused.

"Very well. I'll make it easy for you then." Lin Wu stated and took a look at the girl sitting on one of his spikes.

"I offered this girl something and I would offer you the same, if you do something for me." Lin Wu spoke.

"Offer?" Tian Han repeated as he looked at Tian Chu.

"What could you have to offer?" Tian Han questioned.

"Hahaha! I know, I know… a random creature comes and says he wants something from you and offers you something. It is wise to be cautious. And don't worry I'll answer you." Lin Wu replied with a wide smile.

"Or even better… I'll give you a demonstration instead. That will be better than the answer." Lin Wu said after thinking.

So far, Tian Han was confused and didn't know what he was getting into. But Tian Chu who was there, felt something else. 

"The thing that I offered this girl was… power." Lin Wu answered. "And I'll show you exactly that!" 

"EEK!" Tian Chu screamed and flinched as her body was suddenly pulled up.

~whoosh~

She watched as Lin Wu's tail soared through the air and grabbed onto the Crocodile Head Wolf. The beast was still stuck there and was forcefully brought here.

"Tell me… are you ready?" Lin Wu asked, while staring into Tian Chu's eyes.

But Tian Chu was far too scared to say anything.

"ARE YOU READY FOR THE POWER?" Lin Wu asked out loud.

"YES!" Tian Chu finally responded.

"Good," Lin Wu said in a low voice. "This will hurt… quite a bit." 

~SHING~SHING~SHING~

Tian Chu's eyes went wide as a soul shaking pain racked her body. Tian Han who was watching everything, felt himself tremble. 

Tian Chu's body was impaled with tens of sharp and thin spikes that were no different from needles. They went into her head, arms, legs, torso and into her back. She was like a pincushion that could not move at all.

The only thing she could feel was pain. Even her fear had been forcefully wiped away by the pain. Tears streaked down the side of her eyes and she couldn't even speak. Her mouth was left wide open as drool dripped down from it.

~HISS~

At the same time, another sound was heard. Tian Han looked towards the source of the sound and found it to be none other than the Crocodile Head Wolf. His body too, had been impaled with tens of spikes, but they were many times the size of what were in Tian Chu's body.

But that was not what stunned him. No, that was the condition of the beast. 

"W-what even… how?" Tian Han found it hard to speak as he saw the beast shrinking in size.

"No… it's withering." He muttered as he saw the beast's flesh and blood being dried out. 

It was rapidly reducing in size and a few minutes later was just reduced to a bag of bones. It's eyes had long since retraced into its skull due to being drained and its life was all but gone.

The strong vitality of the beast was nowhere to be seen and neither could the overwhelming spirit Qi could be felt.

~Shua~

In the next moment though, Tian Han could feel a strong spirit Qi fluctuation coming from near him. Not just that, even an aura full of vitality could be felt. 

"Impossible!" Tian Han exclaimed as he saw the source of it.

It was none other than Tian Chu. Her body was as if bursting with vitality and strong spirit Qi waves emitted from it. Along with that,her body was also absorbing the spirit Qi in the air at a very rapid speed.

~KACHA~

A cracking sound could be heard coming from her body as torrential waves of spirit Qi rose.

"She broke though?" Tian Han watched, feeling speechless.

Tian Chu's core cracked before the tribulation even arrived.

"No, that can't be… with the tribulation it is not possible." And just as Tian Han said, his words came true.

~RUMBLE~

Dark clouds covered the sky within seconds as arcs of lightning stirred within them. 

~BOOM~

Then without a warning, the first tribulation thunder bold descended.

"NO!!!" Tian Han shouted and tried to escape.

He knew just how dangerous it was being this close to someone's heavenly tribulation, especially when they were not using a tribulation platform.

Tian Han could only despair in the fact that he was going to be struck by tribulation lightning today and perish. His eyes were shut tight, but that feeling never arrived.

He opened his eyes with difficulty and saw an unimaginable scene. 

"Heavens be witness…" he muttered as he saw the state of the tribulation.

Instead of striking Tian Chu and causing destruction to the area, the Tribulation Lightings bolt was instead stopped by Lin Wu. The lightning was being absorbed by him and only a partial amount was being channeled into Tian Chu.

Lin Wu saw Tian Han observing and chuckled.

"A little tribulation is not something that matters to me." Lin Wu said causally.

~BOOM~

As if being taunted, the tribulation clouds rumbled and shot down an even thicker bolt of tribulation lightning bolt. But just like before, it was stopped by Lin Wu.

Tian Han flinched once again but saw Lin Wu controlling the tribulation lightning as if it were some water. The scene repeated over and over again until eight tribulation lightning bolts had already fallen.

This was something beyond normal already, but could be understood since there were two other beings that were not supposed to be interfering here. 

~SHATTER~

And just as the final bolt's effect faded, Tian Chu's Core finally shattered.

~shua~

A bright light emitted from her body as a vortex of spirit Qi formed above her. The spirit Qi poured into her as if a dam had been broken and her cultivation base started to rise rapidly.

"That… Nascent soul realm…" Tian Han said as he watched everything with glimmering eyes.

Tian Chu's nascent soul seemed to be lively and directly jumped out of her Dantian and body, before appearing on top of her head. The Nascent soul overtook her body and directly started to absorb all the spirit Qi from the sprint Qi vortex that was infusing into her.

Lin Wu who was orchestrating all this, was also a bit surprised but kept his expression still.

'Now this was different… her Nascent soul has a stronger will than others…' Lin Wu thought.

Usually a Nascent soul would not act like this and would be under the control of the creature it belonged to. Only in rare cases would it act on its own, and it was usually in self preservation.

But it was evident right now that it was acting in greed instead.

The process continued and the tribulation clouds in the sky faded away. Lin Wu withdrew all the spikes he had inserted into Tian Chu's body and she kept on floating in the air.

Ten minutes passed like this before the phenomena passed. Tian Chu's Nascent soul had grown by a bit but had not reached the Child Soul stage yet. If one were to compare it, instead of looking like a new born baby, it looked like a six month old baby instead.

It was certain that the spirit Qi infusion directly into the Nascent soul had pushed it greatly towards the next stage. 

Done with this, the Nascent soul closed its eyes and descended down into Tian Chu's body before disappearing into her Dantian where its place was. Tian Chu finally opened her eyes that had a trace of calmness in them.

No longer was there any fear or uncertainty in those eyes. Instead replacing them was sheer determination and faith. She gently descended onto the ground and looked at Lin Wu.

~THUD~

Then, in the very next moment, she fell to her knees.

~thack~thack~thack~

She kowtowed three times, hitting her head hard on the ground, creating a resounding sound.

"Your servant pays respect to master!" Tian Chu said loudly.

Her voice overflowed with respect and an aura of devotion was exuding off her body.

"Good." Lin Wu responded with a wide smile.

"Rise." He ordered.

Tian Chu stood up and faced Lin Wu with a calm expression. Lin Wu glanced at her momentarily before looking towards Tian Han. 

"Well, then… was this to your liking? This will be the offer," Lin Wu asked.

Tian Han's throat felt dry and he could not speak; but at the same time his heart was shouting… YES!