When the bug flew back and landed on Qianye’s shoulder, he gave the little critter a name.
“Stinger, I’ll call you Stinger from now on.”
The insect let out a long squeal, apparently quite delighted at the name. It wouldn’t stop rubbing Qianye’s neck while combing its long antennae.
Caroline said, “It actually uses origin power!”
Qianye thought back to the scene and recalled that the bug’s body was covered in a layer of origin power when it shot into the dead beast’s head. This was the only way it could erupt with such penetrating power.
“It was special, to begin with.” Qianye wasn’t surprised because many beasts from the Evernight World could utilize origin power, the void colossi being the top existences in that list. No other race could even come close to their prowess.
“No, you don’t understand what I meant. What I’m saying is that it can use the origin power here, just like the other creatures.”
Qianye flicked the insect lightly with his finger and sensed the vibrations coming from it, concluding that what Caroline said was true. Even experts of their level had to learn to adapt to the new environment and slowly grasp how to utilize the special origin power. Stinger, however, was able to utilize origin power instinctively and was at a completely different skill level.
“Perhaps it’s because it evolved here?”
“Maybe.” Caroline wasn’t sure, either.
The two felt differently about the blue crystal after returning to the pillar.
“Could it be that these crystals can make lifeforms evolve, regardless of whether they are from this world?”
“If that is the case, those dark races will go crazy over it,” Qianye replied.
“It’s not just the dark races, maybe it works on humans, too. If even your bug can do it, why can’t humans?”
Stinger let out a short cry of dissatisfaction. Qianye patted it with a chuckle. “He has a name now, it’s Stinger.”
Stinger cheered in agreement.
Naturally, Caroline wouldn’t argue with an insect. “Regardless, we need to confirm the uses of this crystal. It might be one of the reasons the Evernight Council is so intent on opening this new world.”
“How?”
“Easy, just do it the way you did with the blood glands.”
That was direct experimentation. Qianye frowned slightly but nodded in the end. Being humane became secondary in the face of the greater good.
Qianye glanced at the stone pillars in the area with complicated emotions. Each of these structures held several keys that would push a life form to a higher level.
This might not be significant for ordinary creatures—their starting point was too low, so the upgrade wasn’t significant, either. For intelligent species like the four major dark races and humans, this opportunity might drive everyone crazy.
Suppressing the urge to collect more crystals, Qianye said to Caroline, “Let’s go forward, we’ll stop at that forest for today.”
“Very well.”
Qianye and Caroline soared into the air and flew toward the forest at an altitude of ten meters. They saw no more pillars along the way, which went to show that these structures only existed in certain regions.
There were shrubs on the ground, as well as rocks glowing with a strange luster. Qianye could tell at a glance that these stones contained some special ore, but he didn’t stop to observe them. Mining wasn’t their primary objective right now—the ore veins here were extremely shallow, but they lacked the expertise to differentiate between them. The most important business was to protect these resources by scouting out the surrounding area. The best scenario would be to find out the beast army’s movements.
The two flew faster and faster until the forest was before them.
Qianye was in no rush to enter the woods. Instead, he flew up to a height of several hundred meters and observed his surroundings. At several dozen kilometers in diameter, this forest couldn’t be considered big. Yet, it stood out quite a bit against the backdrop of barren wastelands around it.
Qianye flew back down after memorizing the scenery and began exploring the forest.
The woods contained a range of different vegetation. Some of the species were fairly similar, but they seemed to be two different generations of breeds. Most of the plants here had blue leaves, while some had red foliage. Their crowns were extraordinarily dense, with leaves weaving together to form a large roof.
Qianye landed on the ground and slowly walked into the forest.
The woods were dark and gloomy, but it felt like he had entered a new world. Stinger arched its body and began crying out restlessly.
Qianye also felt a sense of unease, so he produced East Peak and held it at the ready before heading deeper into the forest. He was heading toward the source of that uneasiness.
Caroline followed from a couple of steps behind to guard Qianye’s rear.
The forest was so dark it almost seemed like there was no daylight. What little luminescence there was came from some of the plants and moss. There was almost no life in the utter silence—no beasts, no birds, not even insects.
The forest wasn’t that big. Even though every direction looked the same, Qianye was able to arrive at the center of the forest just from memory. There, a strange giant tree appeared before him.
This tree wasn’t very tall, almost the same size as the other ones, but it was extremely thick. The diameter of the tree itself was several dozen meters, and it almost looked like a giant water barrel from afar. The leaves clustered at the top almost gave it a mushroom-like appearance.
There was a small pond of pink water near the roots, the contents of which seemed to originate from the burls on the tree. Some of these burls had burst open, and the pink fluid was flowing down into the pond below.
Qianye arrived under the tree and, after a period of cautious exploration, cupped some of the liquid to sniff. “It smells like beast blood.”
Caroline’s constitution was special, and she was even bolder—she wet her fingers in the pink liquid and tasted it. “Very similar, tastes more like their blood gland.”
“Will drinking this spring water have the same effect?”
“Gotta try it to know.”
Qianye was gazing at the giant tree, pondering what role it played in this new world, when he felt a chill run down his spine!
Without a second thought, his figure flickered into the air a hundred meters away. A faint glow shot through his previous position, digging a deep furrow through the giant tree as it brushed past. A large amount of tree sap surged out from the new defect—the pink fluid looked just like the water in the pond.
The assailant failed to hit Qianye and injured the giant tree instead.
A furious howl echoed through the forest as that six-armed creature Qianye had seen on the stone platform appeared from the trees. He was equipped with five different weapons in each hand, leaving only one free.
Qianye landed slowly, sticking to the tree as he did so.
The furious six-armed creature swung its weapons about and roared loudly in a show of force. However, it did not come forward. Even Caroline had figured out that the six-armed giant was afraid of accidentally hurting the giant tree again.
Qianye shot a glance at her and made a gesture, to which she nodded.
As expected, the giant also took a step back when Qianye stepped away from the tree. His expression also relaxed and was no longer as agitated.
“Shall we fight outside?” Qianye pointed to the outside of the forest.
“Very… good.” Unexpectedly, the six-armed creature could actually speak the Imperial language. Although his accent was choppy and strange, he could still articulate.
“You first.”
The six-armed creature turned about and walked out of the forest to wait for Qianye.
Qianye followed him out of the woods, but he didn’t attack immediately. “Who are you people? Why do you come to our world?”
The six-armed creature only spoke one sentence, “You all, must, die!”
It looked like he had no intention of exchanging conversations with Qianye. The long, sawtooth blades in his hands swung down toward Qianye!
The slash came at unbelievable speeds. All one could see was him raising his arm, and the blades were in Qianye’s face the very next moment! There weren’t any afterimages, either. It was almost as though his arms had teleported.
Qianye’s figure sank as he blocked one of the blades with East Peak and utilized the impact to move to the side, effectively evading the next attack.
He had just dodged the first attacks when two more blades swung toward him! Qianye simply placed East Peak horizontally in front of him to block the assault. Sparks flew in all directions from the clash of force!
Qianye was jolted back over ten meters, his feet digging deep trenches in the process. The six-armed giant didn’t have it easy, either. His two swords were knocked upward from the impact, dragging him backward with them. Those arms were no longer as nimble all of a sudden.
Qianye’s countenance went pale, and a fishy scent welled up in his mouth. The six-armed creature arrived in large strides before he could recover, swinging his five weapons tempestuously.
Qianye’s joints crackled as he grasped East Peak under the effects of Excavator. He would block at times or apply skillful techniques to remain on par with the six-armed creature.
However, the entity possessed an extremely strong physique. Each of his blows was a simple attack that served to overwhelm the opponent with pure speed and power. Each blow felt like being rammed into by a colossus, leaving Qianye in great discomfort. Although he could still fight shoulder-to-shoulder at the moment, Excavator wasn’t going to last very long. Once the effects of the secret art had worn off, Qianye would no doubt fall into a disadvantage.
Suppressing Qianye proved how terrifying the creature was. An ordinary divine champion would hardly last a few minutes before it.
Qianye wasn’t panicked, though, and stood firm against his opponent. Qianye’s strength weakened soon afterward as Excavator reached its limits. Every strike shook his body and caused him to stagger.
Seeing hope of imminent victory, the six-armed giant raised his five blades with a loud roar. He was ready to deliver a powerful blow and end this annoying creature!
Charging up that last strike happened almost instantaneously. His five blades came swinging down as soon as they reached the highest point! This strike was so fast and furious that it didn’t look like Qianye would be able to take it.
It was at this time that muffled thuds erupted from the depths of the forest, almost as though someone was chopping wood with all their might.
The six-armed creature’s expression shifted drastically. Following a furious scream, the trajectory of his five blades suddenly became chaotic and moved in different directions. It was only natural that a lousy attack like that wouldn’t hit Qianye. On the contrary, the disruption in energy flow injured him quite a bit.
Ignoring everything else, the six-armed giant abandoned Qianye and rushed into the depths of the forest. He was fast, but Qianye was even faster! A single Spatial Flash took him above the six-armed creature. A black feather shot out and disappeared into the back of the creature’s neck!
The six-armed giant’s body kept charging forward. He was now like a vehicle that had gone out of control, crashing into several trees in his wake. Two more Shots of Inception appeared at this point and found their target.
The creature barreled forward for several hundred meters, mowing down countless trees before finally collapsing with a boom.
