Chapter 452: It’s Fine? It’s Fine!
“Say, you’re really in the know, aren’t you?” the Captain said, looking intrigued. “Alright, speak up. What’s the nightmare of the Woe-Immortals?”
Ning Yan shrank in on himself a bit, yet didn’t dare to refrain from answering the question. Voice trembling, he said, “Legend has it that after a pure-blooded Woe-Immortal died, the woe in their body would turn into a nightmare. Anyone who then disturbed their corpse would be trapped in that nightmare forever, unable to escape. Their flesh would gradually rot away until only their heart remained. And then their heart would become part of the nightmare.”
As Ning Yan spoke, Qing Qiu looked around with narrowed eyes.
Xu Qing’s expression was the same as ever as he also scanned the area.
Meanwhile, the Captain laughed softly. “So, you really are a descendant of the Woe-Immortals. You even know about Aalloh’s Nightmare Tribulation. Not bad. Not bad at all.”
Right then, a thumping sound reached them, like a heartbeat. The lands quivered and the mountains trembled, as if blood were pumping through them. They even started to glow with red light. As the sky grew increasingly red, Xu Qing and the others were covered with blood-colored light. Then, Xu Qing frowned as he realized that parts of his body were starting to disappear.
It started with a fist-sized chunk of flesh on his right leg. No blood flowed from that spot, nor was there any sensation of rotting. The flesh just disappeared. Xu Qing didn’t get flustered. After examining the wound, he activated his third heavenly palace, filling himself with taboo poison.
The others quickly discovered that they were also missing chunks of flesh. Qing Qiu had lost half of a hand. Ning Yan’s right ear and part of his face were gone.
“We’re finished!” Ning Yan wailed. “Done for!”
His eyes were full of terror and despair. And yet, as he cried out, the Captain pulled out something and stuffed it into Ning Yan’s mouth.
Then he smacked Ning Yan’s belly. Ning Yan’s eyes went wide as he involuntarily swallowed whatever was in his mouth.
Shocked, he said, “W-w-what... what’d you give me?”
“That’s a good boy,” the Captain said with a mysterious grin. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
He looked at Xu Qing. Xu Qing looked back at him. The Captain’s behavior so far had only confirmed Xu Qing’s speculations about what was going on.
“Do you trust me, little Junior Brother?” the Captain projected.
Xu Qing nodded. He waved his hand, causing his violet moon heavenly palace to activate, which sent the aura of the violet moon into Qing Qiu. It wasn’t a full invasion. It just flowed through her and helped her to dispel the power of this location. Afterward, Qing Qiu’s expression was a mix of confusion and other emotions. Xu Qing looked back at the Captain.
“Eldest Brother, we need to stay here for a bit of time before leaving, right? How long?”
The Captain chuckled. Obviously Xu Qing understood the meaning behind his simple statement. Feeling very pleased, he replied, “I know you have a lot of questions, Little Junior Brother. Unfortunately, now’s not the time for the answers. You’ve just got to trust me. Suffice it to say Duke Heaven Zenith was right. Getting into Ten Entrails of the True Immortal is like putting together a puzzle. You can’t rush it. Shaabii’s Zombies were one of the puzzle pieces. Aalloh’s Nightmare is the second. Right now we need to wait about an hour. Two hours at the most. Then we’ll be out of here.”
Xu Qing nodded, then sat down cross-legged and continued sending the power of the violet moon into Qing Qiu.
Qing Qiu had very mixed emotions. This was not the first moment in which she had noticed this Nightshade treating her differently than before.
This evil Nightshade definitely has some sort of hidden agenda!
Time crept by. Pieces of the Captain’s body went missing, but he obviously had a way to deal with it, as the speed with which it happened was even slower than for Xu Qing and Qing Qiu.
No one provided any further help to Ning Yan, yet strangely, he didn’t seem affected.
That said, Ning Yan wasn’t happy. Instead, he was trembling with fear as he realized that, though he didn’t have parts of his body disappearing, something else was wrong. His abdomen was starting to expand. It was almost as if something was growing inside of him....
When he realized that, his face turned ashen. Eyes wide, he looked at the Captain and moaned, “Exalted one, what did you feed me? My belly feels really weird....”
Even as the words left his mouth, his abdomen expanded again, quite dramatically. Ning Yan looked extremely anxious.
Qing Qiu inhaled sharply, and Xu Qing had a strange look on his face as he suddenly found himself thinking about Wu Jianwu’s beloved animals.
The Captain hurried over to Ning Yan, his eyes glittering with anticipation. “What does it feel like?”
“Like there’s something kicking me from the inside,” Ning Yan replied, looking like he was about to start crying.
The Captain cleared his throat. “Just keep calm and let the little one keep growing.”
Ning Yan wanted to start cursing but didn’t dare. Beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead. Then he realized that his abdomen seemed to be moving, as if something was trying to pop out of his belly button.
“Exalted one, it-it-it....”
To Ning Yan's shock, something sharp was poking his daoist robe from the inside, at that exact spot.
Xu Qing, the Captain, and Qing Qiu were all watching closely. The Captain was clearly wrapped up in anticipation. Xu Qing seemed curious. Qing Qiu, meanwhile, shivered as she thought about how vicious these Nightshades were.
Ning Yan was nearly overwhelmed with terror as his daoist robe ripped, and something emerged from that spot. It was a thin green vine. Then another and another. The vines writhed as they expanded, growing longer and longer until they were fully nine meters in length. They were all green, and they all emanated an ancient aura.
“Winespirit vines?” Ning Yan blurted in alarm.
The Captain looked surprised. “Interesting. Turns out you know a lot of things, you little punk. Seriously, a lot!”
Meanwhile, once the vines reached nine meters in length, they curved around. Over the course of about ten breaths of time, they circled back to their starting point. There, they connected to each other, creating a large circle that resembled a door.
“Let’s go!” the Captain said, and he dove into the circle.
Xu Qing didn’t hesitate. Keeping his grip on Qing Qiu, he jumped into the circle. When they disappeared, Ning Yan looked extremely nervous. As he stood there, a hand stretched back in through the circle, grabbed the vines where they connected to Ning Yan, then yanked hard. Thus, Ning Yan was also pulled into the circular door. After Ning Yan was gone, the vines shrank down and down until they vanished without a trace.
The location the four had traveled to was still within the jungle of Ten Entrails of the True Immortal. However, they were nowhere near the woodpecker. Instead... they were in the very depths of the jungle. In fact, they were right beneath the Ten Entrails Tree.
Upon emerging, Xu Qing’s heart started to pound when he realized how close he was to the tree. Each of the branching trunks of the tree were fully three hundred meters wide, and together, they occupied a space of about 3,000 meters. Several hundred meters above the surface of the ground, they stretched out in different directions. High in the clouds, they swayed back and forth.
Countless leaves grew on the tree, the veins of which contained magical laws and pulsed with spirit energy fluctuations. Each and every one of those leaves was likely extremely valuable.
There were also innumerable smaller branches that grew off of the tree and were obviously far more valuable than the leaves. They glowed like treasures, and contained not only the power of magical laws, but also, dao resonance. Obviously, each branch was a treasure of its own.
The bark of the tree was a dark green color, and every spot that did not have branches or leaves growing off of it was covered with bulging eyes. All of those eyes were looking at Xu Qing and the others. Meanwhile, a noxious odor filled the area, along with an astonishing pressure.
Anyone would get the sensation that the Ten Entrails Tree... was alive! Or perhaps this was a living ‘true immortal.’
The pressure was so intense that Xu Qing’s vision blurred. It was almost as if the Ten Entrails Tree had turned into a dancing figure surrounded by a sea of flames and a host of dancing cultivators. Xu Qing felt profoundly uncomfortable as his view of the world shifted back and forth between the tree and the vision.
Then he felt himself twitching, as if his own entrails were about to emerge from within him. Breathing heavily, he activated his third and fourth heavenly palaces, while simultaneously sending some power into Qing Qiu to drive away the vision. Qing Qiu’s face was ashen and her eyes bloodshot. Gritting her teeth, she struggled to stay standing.
The Captain had also tapped into his cultivation, causing those faces to appear in his eyes, which helped him resist the pressure of the tree.
Only Ning Yan seemed to be suffering no ill effects. A metallic glow emanated off of him, and the vines attached to his belly swayed, seemingly in unison with the Ten Entrails Tree. He wanted to run, but the Captain had a firm grip on the vines. What was more, nothing he did seemed capable of severing the vines. All he could do was stand there scowling on the verge of tears.
Once Xu Qing cleared his thoughts, he surveyed his surroundings.
The soil underneath the tree was red. There were no leaves or branches lying around. Xu Qing shifted his gaze to the leaves and branches on the tree.
“There are so many branches and leaves! It should be fine to break off one or two.” Xu Qing licked his lips and looked at the Captain. The Captain looked back. Both could see the excitement in each other’s eyes.
Xu Qing burst into motion.
The Captain did the same, carrying the unwilling Ning Yan with him. It was hard to say who reached the tree first.
The Captain ripped off three leaves and stuffed them in his mouth.
Xu Qing tore off a branch and put it into his robe.
After that, they looked at each other again.
“It’s fine?”
“It’s fine!”
Meanwhile, the Ten Entrails Tree started swaying forcefully, and it pulsed with fluctuations that made it seem like it might be waking up.
Ning Yan gasped and looked at Xu Qing and the Captain as if they were dead people. It was his first time coming to understand exactly how crazy these two were.
That was when Qing Qiu took action. Reaching out, she ripped off a leaf and ate it.
As the Ten Entrails Tree swayed with increasing vigor, Ning Yan’s eyes filled with terror. “Well shoot! You’re just like them!”