There had to be a reason for the Pond of Life being so special. Its reason for existence was likely to produce offspring between different species. Now that the six-armed giant had disrupted the peaceful procreation of these living beings within ten kilometers, it was reasonable to think that the pond would react.
Qianye’s figure moved like the wind, slowly edging toward the Pond of Life as he evaded the fierce beasts being hurled at him. The closer he moved to the waters, the stronger the calling of his urges. However, Qianye could still resist this level of urging without using any secret arts.
The tyrannical six-armed giant naturally followed suit, destroying all obstructions and beasts it found unpleasant along the way. Finally, the giant’s toss missed its mark ever so slightly—a wild beast whistled over Qianye’s head and fell toward the water.
The calm lake surface finally swelled up into a wave as an enormous entity leaped up from the water and devoured the falling creature. The leap was extremely powerful, bringing the behemoth’s entire body out of the water before crashing back down amidst mountainous waves.
This marine beast was covered in thick scales, each of them as sharp as blades, and its giant mouth was lined with sinister-looking edges. Just the sight of it made one tremble in fear.
The enormous creature swam toward the shore after appearing, charging straight at the six-armed giant.
The six-armed giant stopped for the first time and, staring at the marine creature, roared to establish its might. The latter wasn’t afraid at all. It arrived at the shore like a flying arrow and pounced onto the six-armed giant, pinning it to the ground!
Only at this point did the marine beast’s true appearance come into view. It was dozens of meters long with six short, pillar-like legs supporting its massive frame. There was a bony plate at the tip of its tail, which resembled a square flail. In terms of body size, it wasn’t at all inferior to the six-armed giant and even held a small advantage. A body that size would weigh hundreds if not thousands of tons, yet it was able to move like lightning and attack as swiftly as a shadow leopard. Qianye could hardly believe his eyes after seeing this terrifying speed.
Even the six-armed giant couldn’t stand the marine creature’s charge, and the latter didn’t hold back at all as it bit down. The large mouth, when fully opened, was enough to swallow the small house Qianye had built back in the neutral lands.
The six-armed giant seemed experienced in combat. It made full use of its advantage in having multiple arms, pushing up the creature’s mouth with four arms, and using the remaining pair to prop up a metal rod inside the marine beast’s mouth. This pushed apart the creature’s upper and lower jaws, making its mouth impossible to close.
Having restrained the marine beast’s mouth, the giant was easily able to extricate itself and push the creature over. After standing up, it grabbed the marine beast by the legs and smashed it to the ground.
The creatures in the Great Maelstrom were hardy and tenacious. Even after such a powerful slam, the marine creature seemed like it was only a bit dizzy and not at all seriously injured. However, Qianye felt worried after seeing the six-armed giant’s skill.
The marine creature was fierce, but it wasn’t the six-armed giant’s opponent in actual combat.
Another change took place at this point. The marine creature went berserk and let out a wild roar. It closed its giant mouth with all its might, actually bending the metal rod that was as thick as Qianye! The rod bent more and more until it finally snapped into two!
Although Qianye was highly experienced, this scene still left him speechless. The marine creature’s jaws were simply heaven-defying and might be enough to snap an armored Imperial warship in two. Even the hydraulic hammer back at the Zhao Clan was no stronger.
The marine beast bit the six-armed giant again, but the latter immediately flashed away. It simply did not dare to get gnawed on. This evasion couldn’t be considered agile, but the giant’s long legs took it several dozen meters with a single wide step and caused the marine beast to miss its mark. However, the sea creature swung its tail along the ground and whipped at the giant’s legs!
This attack was like a battering ram striking a city wall; the muffled sound was followed by a quake and a cloud of dust. The six-armed giant’s leg had caved in somewhat, but its bones remained intact. On the contrary, the sea beast’s tail hammer was a bit deformed.
Soon, the two behemoths clashed in battle once more in a battle that would tear the skies and rend the earth.
Qianye didn’t escape but, instead, approached the battlefield under the cover of the chaos. The marine beast was, after all, still a beast and wouldn’t be the six-armed giant’s match in the long run. The giant’s constant hunt gave Qianye a massive headache, and there was no way he would be able to return to the empire without killing it.
Now that the giant had finally met its equal, how could Qianye not take this opportunity to strike?
Qianye didn’t dare use Heartgrave again, no matter how much confidence the Pond of Life afforded him. Firing an origin gun in the Great Maelstrom would cause too much of a commotion. Even if he didn’t attract all the creatures around the Pond of Life, a small part of them was inevitable. There was no telling if there were any beasts among the many strange species that could track him like the six-armed giant.
At this moment, the six-armed giant and the sea creature were rolling about on the ground. In the face of so many good opportunities, Qianye fished out his vampiric edge and approached under the cover of the dust.
It just so happened that the two monsters had just flipped through the air and slammed down in front of Qianye. This landing produced a huge pit, and a wave of debris bore down upon him!
Without retreating, Qianye relied on his strong body to crash through the wave and appear before a massive city wall of flesh.
This was one of the six-armed giant’s arms. It was two meters in diameter and even taller than Qianye himself. Its skin, covered in hair-like steel nails, had a faint green glow to it and its texture was akin to hard, shriveled tree bark.
Without the slightest hesitation, Qianye raised his vampiric edge and stabbed the six-armed giant’s joint. This thrust was fairly ruthless—the weapon absorbed essence blood from around the wound, affecting healing and numbing the arm.
The blade sunk in as though he were stabbing rotten leather.
However, the vampiric edge wouldn’t go further after a while. The feeling from his hand told him that he hadn’t actually pierced through the enemy’s skin.
Qianye cursed inwardly as he maximized the applied pressure. The blade finally penetrated the giant’s thick skin and into the flesh before finally nailing itself in the bone. Qianye was delighted because this was the result he had wanted. An injury to the bone, now that was truly difficult to heal.
Several activation points kicked into action as layer upon layer of Excavator power was mobilized. With a short grunt, Qianye pushed the vampiric edge into the six-armed giant’s bone.
Unable to withstand the great pressure, the vampiric edge snapped in half!
Qianye was surprised because this blade had followed him for a good while. It was light, easy to wield, and it was grade-seven in quality. Who would’ve thought a weapon of this grade would fail to deal with the six-armed giant’s bones? Wouldn’t this mean these bones were comparable to grade-eight treasures?
This giant bastard was practically a mobile treasure trove. Unfortunately, treasures were only good if one could take from them.
Qianye abandoned the broken blade and jumped back a hundred meters or so, evading a sweeping strike from the six-armed giant. This fist was still a good distance from him, but the winds produced from the strike was enough to stifle him.
Fortunately, Qianye’s stab was no more than an ant-bite to the giant. Its entire focus remained on the marine beast, only swatting at him randomly.
Qianye hid to the side and soon found another opportunity. A tail sweep from the marine beast swept the giant to the ground, its back open in front of Qianye.
Without hesitation, Qianye shot out like a bolt of lightning and latched onto the giant’s back. Threads of blood spread out from him as he activated Life Plunder!
Qianye’s control over Life Plunder had increased sharply after reaching the marquis rank, and most of the sanguine threads found their mark. The red lines were extremely thin but peerlessly sharp, drilling right into the six-armed giant in the blink of an eye.
However, Qianye’s expression changed drastically. The usually unstoppable threads faced great difficulty advancing into the giant’s body. There was a strange energy field inside its body that would resist formless attacks like this.
Finally, the threads returned with only half of them carrying a drop of blood each.
It could be considered a fruitful endeavor, at the very least. Qianye retracted the sanguine threads and disappeared with Spatial Flash. It just so happened that the giant flipped over at this point and landed back-side down like a collapsing mountain. Qianye would’ve been compressed below if he had been a bit slower.
Qianye had just landed some distance away when his face turned red and he staggered like a drunkard for a while before stabilizing himself. The essence blood in his body wasn’t just overflowing; it was on the verge of exploding. The energy contained in the few drops of blood was even greater than the entire blood supply of a four-armed native. There was no way Qianye could withstand absorbing close to a hundred four-armed warriors in essence blood.
With a muffled groan, he coughed up a mouthful of blood as more trickled down from his eyes and nose. There were bloody spots all over his skin as the sanguine fluid seeped out of his body.
Qianye couldn’t care about himself at this point. He glanced over at the six-armed giant and saw that the monstrosity was still fighting the marine beast, and it had gained the clear upper hand. All it did was scratch its back to get rid of the itchy sensation.
This outcome gave Qianye a new understanding of the six-armed giant’s terrifying vitality. Even if he were to explode ten times over, it still wouldn’t be enough to drain the six-armed giant with Life Plunder.
Having failed in this method, Qianye finally brought East Peak into play. Another opening presented itself after a while, and he finally managed to open a small wound on the creature’s leg.
The wound was a meter long and half a meter deep, but Qianye couldn’t feel any delight from seeing it. Most of the wound’s depth was occupied by light green skin, and only its deepest parts were made up of flesh. This small injury wasn’t enough to make a difference compared to the gigantic frame of the creature.
East Peak was superior in weight and sturdiness, but it was not known for its sharpness. It felt as though there was nowhere to strike on the giant’s body.
That left him with the Shot of Inception as his only option. But the shot had to strike the target’s vitals directly, and seeing how massive the target’s body was, Qianye couldn’t help but feel a hint of despair. There was no telling how many Shots of Inception would be needed to finish this giant off.
