Chapter 49 Chapter 49 “Does it really need to eat this thing…

The seal of the contract burned as hot as a branding iron on her wrist. Zhu Tianba's violent will was like a wild horse that had broken free from its reins, completely breaking free from her mental restraints.

This time it was stronger than any other time before.

Ma Chengying waved his arm and released a sharp arc of light, forcing back two bone-armored spiders that were about to pounce on him. His eyes followed the receding glimmer of light, and his heart gradually sank to the bottom of the valley.

Hong Ling's crystal scorpion tail hook stabbed out like lightning, trying to intercept, but Zhu Tianba's speed was unbelievable. White light flashed a few times between the folds of the flesh wall, and then disappeared at the end of the dark corridor.

"Chase after him." Ma Chengying quickly gave Jiang Qing an order.

There's no telling what a spirit beast that's out of control will do impulsively.

Someone around cleared the way for Jiang Qing. She suddenly pulled out her legs that were deeply stuck in the mucus, and her mental strength burst out recklessly, pouring into her feet.

She forcibly blocked out the wet and sticky feeling under her feet, as well as the wrinkles caused by squirming and squeezing on both sides.

Her world suddenly became reduced to a weak yet violent contractual connection.

Because of this minor change in Zhu Tianba's situation, the chaotic battlefield seemed to be torn open. Everyone defended while suppressing the group of strange beasts, following Jiang Qing and going deeper.

At this moment, Wen Zhuxi's face was as miserable as a ghost. The strong throbbing brought by the prediction made his whole body tremble. He grabbed Lin Qingzhou's arm tightly, and his voice was filled with broken fear: "No... That thing is moving, it's looking at us, it's waiting for Zhu Tianba to come over!"

The predictive ability was somewhat distorted by the distorted magnetic field of the surrounding space, and only a few creepy fragments could be captured.

Lin Qingzhou's heart trembled, and he held Wen Zhuxi's cold hand with his backhand: "Tell me clearly, what's moving?"

"Eyes, many, many eyes, they are alive." Wen Zhuxi frowned and spoke incoherently. The hope of life was becoming slim. He predicted over and over again, but still could not find the way out.

Everyone heard his words and their hearts trembled.

At this moment, a sound came again from deep in the corridor ahead.

The gray-white light wave attacked the crowd for the third time.

"Zhu Tianba!" Jiang Qing's heart almost jumped out of her chest. She saw it, less than fifty meters ahead of her.

A huge core, beating slowly like a heart, finally appeared at the end of the sight.

The huge tumor with a diameter of more than five meters was covered with densely packed gray-white compound eyes arranged like a honeycomb. It was suspended in mid-air, and the flesh wall came to an abrupt end at the end, replaced by a pool of constantly surging and bubbling yellow-green liquid.

It's like a pot of poison brewed by a witch. Just looking at the color can kill anyone who comes into contact with it instantly.

Everyone shook themselves.

At this moment, the huge tumor slowly turned around, and all its reappearances flashed with cold light, staring at Zhu Tianba who rushed over first.

Zhu Tianba stopped when he was near the edge of the green liquid. The road was too slippery and he didn't brake in time, causing his hooves to get a little stained.

The moment the liquid touched its hooves, it turned into a white mist and dissipated into the air.

Zhu Tianba took two steps back, a look of disgust and hesitation flashed across his little face.

It rarely turned around, glanced at Jiang Qing who was following it, and called out "Kang".

Zhu Tianba fell into deep thought.

'Does it really need to eat this?'

Jiang Qing's heart was in his throat. He looked at Zhu Tianba who turned his head back, as if he could understand the confusion in his eyes.

Is it still possible to compromise at this time?

The compound eyes on the huge tumor flashed with a cold light, and the surrounding yellow-green liquid exuded a suffocating corrosive smell. Any creature would instinctively retreat.

"Come on, why not?" Jiang Qing sneered contemptuously.

Zhu Tianba glanced at her sideways, snorted lightly, and a puff of white air sprayed out from the tip of his nose.

'Bad Jiang Qing.'

The Qingbao Spirit Snake roamed on the surrounding flesh walls, and the moment it saw Huoqiu Mountain, it automatically returned to his shoulder.

Ma Chengying and others quickly took out several instruments and quickly scanned the tumor in front of them.

"What kind of creature is this?" Lin Qingzhou asked.

Not all the eyes on the tumor were open. Some were still blinking slowly, as if they were still accumulating energy.

After the instrument beeped for more than ten seconds, Ma Chengying was stunned looking at the test results.

"On the biological display, this tumor has multiple beating hearts, an abnormal energy fluctuation emitting a red glow, and multiple identical limbs." Ma Chengying said curiously, "It looks like... many strange beasts have been put together."

"The results of the exotic beast matching are also out."

While they were talking, Hong Ling's testing instrument also loaded the results.

"Although there is no record of this kind of strange beast in the system, through genetic screening, I have captured the genes of only one kind of strange beast, the Thousand Worm." Hong Ling raised her head and said solemnly.

"Thousand Worms?" Meng Yanlang frowned, his tone filled with disbelief. "But in the Beast Atlas, Thousand Worms are low-level beasts that live in groups, the largest of which is only half a meter in size. They feed on humus and don't have spatial abilities or the ability to devour and fuse."

As he spoke, he quickly called up the information in his personal terminal, and the image of the Thousand Worms appeared on the light screen.

A slender insect with a gray-brown body and distinct segments appeared on the screen projection, looking non-threatening.

"But genetic sequences don't lie." Hong Ling's voice deepened. "And look at the arrangement of these compound eyes. Doesn't it resemble the segmentation of a millipede?"

Hong Ling pondered and expressed her speculation: "It seems that it has devoured other alien beasts with spatial attributes, perhaps even human equipment and energy cores, to mutate into its current form."

As soon as he finished speaking, the huge tumor suddenly shrank, and all the open compound eyes flashed a gray-white light at the same time.

"Be careful!" Huo Qiushan shouted softly, and the Qingbao Spirit Snake instantly wrapped around his arm and spit out its tongue to issue a warning.

Suddenly, a huge wave arose in the yellow-green acid pool below the tumor, and dozens of flesh-colored tentacles covered with mucus broke out of the water and lashed towards everyone like flexible whips.

The ends of the tentacles still carry some undigested crustacean structures.

Zhao Peng's Iron-Armored Bull roared forward, using its thick shell to withstand the attacks of several tentacles, making muffled "bang bang" sounds, and the ochre energy caused ripples on the shell.

"Jiang Qing." Ma Chengying dodged the tentacles' whipping as she circled the corridor. Her voice reached only Jiang Qing's ears through the chaos. "Its core energy is concentrated in the red light at the top of the tumor. Only Zhu Tianba can absorb that power. Find a way to get it closer."

Jiang Qing gritted his teeth and looked at Zhu Tianba, who had been motionless since he arrived here.

It was now grinning at the bubbling green acid.

"How about you just eat it reluctantly?" Jiang Qing asked tentatively, while using all his mental strength to try to guide it away from the attack range of the tentacles. "At most, I can wash it with water for you while you eat it."

She patted the bulge in her pocket where a bottle of water was.

Jiang Qing noticed the subtle change in Zhu Tianba's expression and leaned forward. In the end, his body could not resist the temptation of the beast core power.

She smiled.

The Flowing Phoenix and the Sky-Splitting Eagle are both flying spirit beasts. Naturally, the two beasts can carry Zhu Tianba to fly up. However, at this time, the Sky-Splitting Eagle is busy fighting with Ma Chengying, and only Lin Qingzhou's Flowing Phoenix is ​​left around.

She walked towards Lin Qingzhou and communicated with her.

Under Lin Qingzhou's guidance, the flowing light that was circling around him cautiously lowered its head and posture, inviting Zhu Tianba to come up.

Jiang Qing raised his chin towards it.

After it went up, it tilted its head towards Jiang Qing and said "kang" softly.

It seems to mean 'Aren't you coming with me?'

Jiang Qing chuckled and stuffed the liquid in his pocket into Liuguang's mouth.

Lin Qingzhou thought that the potion inside was for dealing with the thousand worms, so he asked Liuguang to treat it with caution.

She looked at the interaction between Jiang Qing and Zhu Tianba curiously: "Is your spirit pet always like this?"

Jiang Qing turned around, not understanding what Lin Qingzhou was referring to.

While the two were communicating, the densely packed compound eyes on the tumor seemed to completely lock onto the small white beast that was resting on the edge of the acid pool.

A heart-pounding energy wave gathered madly at the blazing red light at the top of the tumor.

"It is accumulating power, a stronger force of annihilation!" Huoqiushan's cold voice sounded with unprecedented urgency, and the Qingbao Spirit Snake twisted restlessly on his shoulder.

"It's too late, Zhu Tianba, hurry!" Zhao Peng roared, and the Iron-Armored Bull forcibly knocked away a huge tentacle that was lashing towards Jiang Qing, leaving deep corrosion marks on its heavy shell.

"Liuguang!" Lin Qingzhou shouted loudly.

The Flowing Phoenix let out a long and clear cry, and its wings suddenly folded forward. A solid wall of light instantly stood up in front of Zhu Tianba, trying to block any possible attacks.

Wen Zhuxi's face was as pale as paper. The fragmented images brought by the prediction almost suffocated him: "No... I can't stop it, that thing is going to explode!"

He grabbed Lin Qingzhou's arm tightly, his nails almost digging into the flesh.

Zhu Tianba's front hooves grabbed the long feathers on Liuguang's back, and a stream of platinum-colored air flowed into Liuguang's body along the grip.

The next second, Liuguang did a low flip in the air and then rushed towards the tumor at an extremely fast speed.

"Liuguang!" Lin Qingzhou found that Liuguang was out of her control and immediately became alert, but no matter how she controlled it, Liuguang just wouldn't listen to her.

Her seal of contract emitted a burning aura, and after a few seconds, it completely lost its effect.

It was as if, at this moment, Liuguang was no longer his contracted beast.

She tried to rush forward, but was grabbed by Wen Zhuxi.

Wen Zhuxi had his eyes closed, which was usually the state he was in when he was using his predictive beast taming talent skills.

"Don't worry, it's Zhu Tianba who is requisitioning your Liuguang." Wen Zhuxi said.

Lin Qingzhou paused, her face full of surprise. She repeated Wen Zhuxi's words: "Expropriate?"

Zhu Tianba is also a spirit pet? How could it possibly control another spirit pet?

At this moment, the blazing golden light in the depths of Zhu Tianba's amber pupils suddenly burst out, like two burning little suns.

The instructions and anxiety conveyed by Jiang Qing were like the final catalyst, instantly overwhelmed its instinctive aversion to the acid under its feet.

The irresistible desire for the core beast's core power and the response to Jiang Qing's "order" finally gained the absolute upper hand.

After controlling the light to reach the tumor destination, it jumped down directly and rushed straight towards the red light on the top of the huge tumor.

The speed was so fast that it left a blurry afterimage in the air.

Jiang Qing was fulfilling the duties of a beastmaster in its mind, calculating the shortest route for it.

All the compound eyes on the tumor suddenly lit up with a dazzling gray-white light, and the annihilation pulse that had been brewing to the limit was about to burst out.

However, Zhu Tianba is faster.

Its small body drew a nearly perfect arc in the air, accurately avoiding several squirming tentacles on the tumor that were trying to intercept it, and opened its mouth.

At the last moment before it pounced on the core of the red light, the condensed gray-white light suddenly shrank inward, as if being forcibly suppressed and pulled by an invisible force.

The flowing light hovering in the sky saw that Zhu Tianba was approaching the tumor. The bottle of water in its mouth had not yet fallen. It used both paws, quickly unscrewed the bottle mouth, and poured the water accurately towards the red glowing area.

The next moment, Zhu Tianba's seemingly small mouth, like a bottomless miniature black hole, bit hard on the violently beating red light.

“Puff—”

A dull and strange sound was heard, as if a sticky liquid was being forcibly sucked out.

Everyone held their breath.

The huge tumor seemed to have its spine pulled out in an instant, and its violent pulsation suddenly stopped.

The light of all the compound eyes covering it dimmed and went out in an instant, like a light bulb without power.

Those wildly waving tentacles fell down limply like puppets that had lost their power, crashing into the acid pool and splashing large amounts of foul-smelling green liquid.

In the entire huge "intestine"-like space, the ubiquitous dull pulsating sound and restless energy quickly receded like the tide.

Dead silence.

Only the acid pool was still bubbling unwillingly, making a gurgling sound.

Zhu Tianba's entire body was clinging to the tumor, his small mouth tightly "attached" to the core of the rapidly dimming red light.

Visible to the naked eye, streams of pure and violent dark red energy with space-distorting fluctuations were madly sucked into its mouth like rivers returning to the sea.

Its body expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye, and white hair emerged from the seams of its clothes, standing upright. Its entire body emanated increasingly strong, heart-pounding energy fluctuations.

The space began to twist and ripple slightly around it.

The amber eyes were completely filled with pure gold, and it seemed as if stars were being born and annihilated inside.

"It... it is devouring the core?" Misong's voice was trembling with disbelief.

"Successful?" Zhao Peng widened his eyes and looked at the limp tumor and the lifeless tentacles.

Meng Yanlang pushed up his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses filled with shock and fanaticism: "It's not just devouring, it's forcibly plundering and absorbing the core energy source that caused the spatial anomaly. This... this is simply..."

"Incredible." Huo Qiushan added, his eyes fixed on the increasingly obvious spatial ripples around Zhu Tianba.

The Qingbao Spirit Snake also raised its head, sensing vigilantly.

Ma Chengying was the first to recover from his shock. He spoke loudly, "The energy fluctuations are too strong and might attract other things. Hong Ling, Mi Song, you guys stand guard at the perimeter. Zhao Peng, guard the direction of the acid pool. Lin Qingzhou, be ready for emergency response and treatment at any time."

Everyone immediately woke up from their shock and quickly acted according to the instructions.

Jiang Qing's heart was beating wildly. She moved closer to the huge tumor that had lost its threat step by step. She concentrated her mind and felt the surging energy feedback from the seal of the contract.

Zhu Tianba's body was trembling slightly, obviously under tremendous pressure.

The dark red energy flow was extremely violent, and even though it had a fatal attraction to it, the process of swallowing it was by no means easy.

An unknown amount of time had passed before Jiang Qing realized that something was wrong with the seal of the contract and immediately looked up.

The violently fluctuating energy around Zhu Tianba seemed to have reached a critical point. He suddenly raised his head and let out a painful roar.

Along with this long roar, a condensed white airflow suddenly burst out with Zhu Tianba as the center, and the airflow cut a void in the air like a torn silk.

On the other side of the rift was no longer a wriggling wall of flesh or a pool of foul-smelling acid, but a dead blackness.

They have been in an independent and closed space since they stepped into the mine. Everything here challenges everyone's cognition. Although everyone will be surprised by what happens now, they will not act strangely.

Fear is useless here because there is no escape.

The crack existed in the air for a few seconds, and then it became like a gaping mouth of an abyss, and darkness enveloped the entire space.

"What's going on?"

"Deputy Captain Ma? Jiang Qing? Where are you?"

The endless darkness lasted for about ten seconds. When vision was restored, everyone showed an expression of having survived a disaster.

Fortunately, I'm still alive.

The world is not destroyed...

Before the word "destroy" came out of their mouths, the scene before them once again stunned everyone.

The rotten meat ball disappeared, the pink flesh wall disappeared, even Zhu Tianba and the crack disappeared.

Before my eyes was a village, with curling smoke and the sounds of chickens and dogs. It was like two completely different worlds from the smelly and sticky space just now.

The dirt road winds its way to the old locust tree at the entrance of the village. Several children in coarse clothes are chasing and playing around the tree stump, and their silver bell-like laughter fills the air.

Next to the stone mill at the entrance of the village, an old woman with white hair was slowly waving a palm-leaf fan. Her eyes were cloudy but with a bit of peace as she looked at the figure bending over to work on the ridge of the field in the distance.

Jiang Qing stood there in a daze. The soil under his feet was moist and smelled of grass after the rain, which was a world of difference from the slippery slime on the flesh wall.

She subconsciously touched her palm. The compass jade was still burning hot, but the gray mist was no longer spinning wildly. Instead, it seemed to have found a home, lingering gently around the handle of the spoon, faintly pointing to the depths of the village.

"Where is this?" Zhao Peng's loud voice broke the silence. He scratched the back of his head. The Armored Bull pawed its hooves restlessly beside him, obviously confused by the sudden change.

No one could answer him.

"Something's wrong here." Wen Zhuxi spoke first. He had just tried to use his predictive talent, but his skills became confused the moment he stepped into the village. He could not sense any deadly danger around him, and he felt a sense of horror as if he was being stared at by the Five Elements.

Wen Zhuxi: "These people seem unable to see us."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone realized that the children, the elderly, and the farmers busy on the ridges of the fields all ignored this group of "strangers" who suddenly appeared, and continued to do their own things, their movements mechanically like puppets.

"It shouldn't be a real scene. It's like a photo stone. Some medium is triggered, and the same scene as in the past appears." Ma Chengyin said cautiously.

"The clothes they wear are very strange. They are not what people in the villages near Luoxia Forest wear on a daily basis." Lin Qingzhou observed carefully. "This kind of pattern... is very rare."

In fact, he had never seen it before, but out of caution, Lin Qingzhou said it was rare.

Everyone was discussing the matter, but Jiang Qing remained silent.

This place had a vague sense of familiarity. She had seen it in Zhu Tianba's genetic memory when she was at Zhenxingtai.

But the scene at this moment was a little earlier than the time she saw it.

There had been no fire in the village, and the villagers had not picked up their weapons as if they were ready to fight at any time.

"Jiang Qing?" Lin Qingzhou noticed her strangeness and gently touched her arm. "Did you discover something?"

Jiang Qing came back to his senses and was about to speak when he saw the farmer working on the ridge of the field suddenly straighten up.

She stretched her shoulders, and a golden light appeared and disappeared behind her. Then, the farmer's body suddenly grew several times bigger, and his rice planting movements became much faster.

"There are animal patterns on her face..." Misong took a breath and subconsciously took a half step back.

"Animal patterns?" Meng Yanlang was puzzled.

"Beast Marks and Contract Seals are similar in that they both provide a means of gaining power through spirit beasts. The difference is that Beast Marks are blessings bestowed upon humans by spirit beasts, and a single spirit beast can bestow multiple Beast Marks simultaneously. Contract Seals, on the other hand, are a kind of transaction between humans and spirit beasts. Humans provide the spirit beasts with what they need for growth, and the spirit beasts return some of their energy to humans in exchange. Both parties experience sacrifice and gain. In short, Contract Seals are much more equal than Beast Marks." Ma Chengying thought for a moment and added, "Of course, this is for humans."

Zhao Peng narrowed his eyes, trying to see more clearly: "What are the animal patterns on that person's face?"

"It's a pig." Jiang Qing said calmly.

Everyone looked over and was silent for two seconds.

Jiang Qing dealt with Zhu Tianba every day, and its image had long been deeply imprinted in her mind. The pattern shown by the farmer was very easy to recognize.

It is a larger version of Zhu Tianba’s avatar.

-----------------------

The author has something to say: I spent a lot of time looking up information before writing this, and I thought Dang Kang was a rare beast, but it turns out that everyone knows him [狗头]