Volume Five: Emerging Brilliance Chapter Nine: Encountering the Behemoth of Thunder Once Again

Following Li Chengzhu as he flew forward for a long time, Yuanmu finally could not help asking, "Zhuzi, is the Mani Bead really to be found here? Where is it specifically?"

Li Chengzhu rolled his eyes. "How would I know? One of the eight nascent souls inside the Blood-As-Blood Ring told me that the Mani Bead might exist in the Forbidden Land of Immortals."

"And where did he hear about it?"

"Sigh." Li Chengzhu turned his head to look at Yuanmu, knowing in his heart that the man was worried about Yuansen's future. "That person is an elder of the Putuo Sect. Their forty-second guiding immortal emissary belonged to that sect. Several hundred years ago, when that forty-second guiding immortal emissary walked out of the grand formation, he brought out a Mani Bead, which was used by their sect leader to refine an immortal pill and reshape his physical body. It was too long ago, and back then he was merely a little child in the sect, so he doesn't know the exact details, only that the Forbidden Land of Immortals should contain a Mani Bead."

"So that's how it is." Yuanmu sighed again. Immediately afterwards, he thought that having hope was better than having no hope at all, and his deeply furrowed brows relaxed. At worst, if they couldn't find the Mani Bead, they simply wouldn't leave this grand formation.

"Also," Yuanmu continued, "what do you plan to do with those eight nascent souls in your ring? Judging by your appearance, you're hardly going to go around searching for the Mani Bead for them."

"Hmph hmph." Li Chengzhu gave a cold chuckle. "The Mani Bead? We'll talk about it once we actually have it. If I hadn't taken them in, they probably would have been swallowed by others or refined into magical treasures by now."

Yuanmu lowered his head in thought, and indeed, this was true. The heavens and the earth were vast, yet there was no sanctuary for nascent souls of pure energy. The Immortal World was not entirely filled with good people, and there were plenty of malicious eyes around, weren't there? If given the chance to suddenly increase one's own strength, most people probably wouldn't let it pass. Weren't several of the nascent souls inside that ring trapped there precisely because of their own greed?

As a strong gust of wind blew, Yuanmu actually felt a trace of chill. Human hearts were no longer as pure as they used to be.

"Head down." Li Chengzhu waved a large hand and floated downward. Yuanmu was momentarily stunned, then hurriedly followed him down, having already spotted an immortal beast of enormous size at the bottom.

Its bluish-green skin blended harmoniously with the trees of the Forbidden Land of Immortals, acting as a protective camouflage for its massive body to facilitate ambush and evade the attacks of immortal beasts stronger than itself. Its thick back was marked with slash after slash, line after line, resembling cracks hewn by a giant axe, outlining countless grayish-brown gullies. Countless skin fissures indicated that this immortal beast had already reached middle age.

Its huge, powerful tail swept across the thick trees in the jungle—trees that even fierce gales could not shake—swaying them wildly to and fro. Its sturdy limbs displayed an unassailable majesty, and its bulging belly almost grazed the ground, flattening the slightly raised mounds of earth as its body moved forward. Its slow and heavy footsteps printed lightly onto the earth, yet produced a muffled thump like a wooden mallet striking a leather drum, causing the surrounding trees to tremble in unison.

Even with all his vast knowledge and experience, Yuanmu was deeply shocked by the behemoth before him.

Standing a good thirty meters tall and over fifty meters long, this immortal beast radiated an aura that looked down upon the entire world. Two large horns on top of its head were wreathed in wisps of light, occasionally emitting crisp crackling sounds before flashing with dazzling brilliance.

Yuanmu forced himself to swallow a mouthful of saliva, silently weighing his own strength.

Having barely managed to slay the Thousand-Cranes Immortal Beast alongside the other two brothers and Gu Linglong—at the cost of a heavy price—Immortal Yuanmu harbored an inexplicable terror toward immortal beasts at this moment.

Especially immortal beasts of such massive proportions.

Heaven knew whether it could flatten him with a single step!

Li Chengzhu was excited. He had encountered this immortal beast before; it could be said to be his very first opponent with any real strength after arriving in the Immortal World. Back then, it had taken a tremendous amount of effort to eliminate it, and it was precisely at that moment that he first laid eyes on the little fellow. The little thing had even sneakily stolen that guy's immortal core and tried to escape.

"What is this thing?"

Li Chengzhu could even hear the sound of Yuanmu swallowing his saliva.

***

Giving him a cold, sidelong glance, Li Chengzhu thought it a disgrace that he was an immortal, yet he was so terrified of a mere immortal beast.

Heaven be merciful, but Yuanmu had been thoroughly traumatized by the Thousand-Cranes Immortal Beast. As the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, ten years in fear of well ropes.

"I call it a Thunder Beast," Li Chengzhu said with a faint smile, casting a cold glance at the behemoth before them.

"How is its strength?" Yuanmu was calculating in his heart whether he should just turn and run right now. He only had a hula hoop on hand for attack; although he had refined some minor defensive magical treasures inside the city lord's estate, if this immortal beast's offensive power was in the same league as the Thousand-Cranes Immortal Beast, there was truly no need to pull teeth from the tiger's mouth.

Yuanmu was still preoccupied with his Mani Bead; how could he possibly guess that Li Chengzhu's true purpose for this trip was the immortal cores of these beasts?

"It can cast lightning, but otherwise nothing to be feared." Li Chengzhu glanced sideways at Yuanmu; this fellow's legs were actually turning a bit weak.

Immortal Yuanmu was not only terrified of immortal beasts, he was even more terrified of lightning. Back at the Angel Military Camp, he had almost been blasted out of his wits by the combined lightning of the heavenly tribulation and immortal tribulation.

"Should we fight or not?" Yuanmu's lips were slightly pale as he weakly looked at Boss Li.

"Stop talking nonsense." Li Chengzhu gave a cold bark, first summoning his Meteor Sword to strike directly at one of the Thunder Behemoth's two horns. The long years of arrogant and fierce living on the Red Rock Plateau had made Li Chengzhu somewhat bloodthirsty at this moment. Back then, he had managed to pierce the Thunder Beast full of holes using merely a middle-grade flying sword; now that he had an immortal weapon in hand, what was there to fear?

The sense of crisis honed by years of battling other immortal beasts suddenly caused the Thunder Behemoth to sense the onset of danger, and moreover, the target was aimed squarely at its eyes.

Being old, its eyesight was poor; it only realized the danger when it was right before its eyes, discovering that two tiny organisms had somehow appeared in front of it.

However, the Thunder Behemoth knew that size did not necessarily represent strength or weakness; judging strength by size only applied within its own clan. Ever since it had fought a soaring immortal eagle, it had understood this truth.

Therefore, it did not dare to take the things attacking from those two organisms lightly. While tightly closing its eyes, it thrust the pair of horns on its head forward. With a loud crash, a lightning bolt as thick as a water bucket erupted from between the Thunder Behemoth's horns.

A cold smile hung on the corner of Li Chengzhu's mouth. While shifting his footing and forming hand seals with both hands, his Meteor Sword spun rapidly to dodge the lightning bolt, then continued with undiminished momentum toward its target.

"Clang~~~"

"Crack~~~"

Two loud crashes echoed out.

Yuanmu started violently, staring at the ground less than ten steps away from him. The earth was now scorched black, and the fallen leaves had been blasted into tiny fragments by the lightning bolt, fluttering down to cover his head and face.

At the same time, Li Chengzhu's Meteor Sword had already struck the left eye of the Thunder Behemoth. Against the backdrop of those eyes as large as gongs, the 1.3-meter-long Meteor Sword appeared as small as a needle.

The Meteor Sword was blocked outside by that thick eyelid. To his horror, Li Chengzhu discovered that a faint protective barrier existed outside the Thunder Behemoth's body, preventing his Meteor Sword from advancing even an inch further.

Forming hand seals, he activated the offensive array within the sword while shouting aloud, "Damn it, come over here and help me waste this bastard!"

***

With a "bang," the Meteor Sword blocked outside the Thunder Beast activated. The faint protective barrier flashed with interlocking radiance before returning to calm.

The strength of this Thunder Beast was simply not in the same league as the one encountered previously; the Meteor Sword could not even break through its defense. Li Chengzhu felt as though he had kicked an iron plate once again.

With an angry roar of "Awoo," the Thunder Beast was thoroughly enraged. In this tiny territory of its own, who dared not show it some respect? Whenever anyone saw it, they would invariably detour and run away. Yet these two tiny organisms before it actually dared to provoke the reverse scale beneath its throat! The Thunder Behemoth decided it must defend its dignity as a king.

Boss Li's angry roar had no effect whatsoever on Yuanmu, who was still staring blankly at the gigantic immortal beast before him. Instead, the fierce wind accompanying that roar, laden with a foul stench of saliva, finally shocked him back to his senses.

"Beast!" Yuanmu roared angrily. In that brief instant just now, his mind had wandered again, causing him to recall the scenes of adventuring through the Immortal World together with the three brothers Yuanlin and Yuansen.

Yuanmu reached out to wipe his face; it was covered in the Thunder Behemoth's saliva, and the smell was deeply pungent.

"Die!" Yuanmu swept his hand and cast out the hula hoop, brandishing it with formidable might as he attacked the unimaginably huge head of the Thunder Behemoth.

The difference in strength between an immortal and a cultivation practitioner was instantly clear.

While Li Chengzhu could only stir up a single layer of ripples on the Thunder Behemoth's protective barrier, Yuanmu's hula hoop caused those ripples to surge like rolling azure waves.

"Awoo~~" The Thunder Behemoth cried out to the heavens, completely losing its previous leisurely demeanor. Its sturdy limbs stretched and contracted, actually leaping over a dozen meters into the air while its body twisted incessantly, trying to shake off the two weapons clinging to it like maggots on tarsal bones. As that massive body crashed back down, Li Chengzhu and Yuanmu simultaneously felt a tremor beneath their feet; even the ground shook, and the surrounding trees rustled violently as countless leaves fell.

Taking advantage of the momentary lapse of the two men, both immortal weapons were bounced away by the Thunder Behemoth at the same time.

Concurrently, the Thunder Beast's counterattack began.

Opening its eyes wide like a wolf scanning a flock of sheep, the Thunder Behemoth radiated an aura that looked down upon the world. With just a single glance, it determined that the creature on the right possessed slightly weaker strength. Lowering its head slightly, the two long horns on its head revealed that gleaming, dazzling light once more, emitting a crackling sound.

Just as Li Chengzhu regained his footing, he saw a bolt of lightning attacking toward him. Panicking inwardly, he hurriedly circulated the Wind-Chasing Art and flew upward.

With Li Chengzhu's increase in strength and flexible application, such minor spells as the Wind-Chasing Art no longer required hand seals; a mere thought was all it took to execute them.

However, the Thunder Behemoth's ultimate move was only truly unleashed at this moment. Opening its wide mouth, an even thicker bolt of lightning closed in on Li Chengzhu in a pincer attack.

Boss Li wanted to curse aloud. When he had encountered the Thunder Beast back then, that guy used its mouth to launch attacks—how on earth had he suddenly forgotten about that?