Chapter 25: An Unexpected Discovery (Part One)

At this moment, the three of them were completely bound together. The Spirit-Eater Demon lowered its enormous head, the grotesque beauty of its face examining the trio with meticulous attention, circling around their bodies.

That gigantic head loomed just before them, like a sunflower magnified a thousandfold. On its ferocious face, two lantern-sized, eerie green eyes hungrily reflected the image of the three captives.

The Spirit-Eater Demon stretched out its long, crimson, serpentine tongue, which brushed across Jiang Qiang’s face, already slack with terror. It curled its tongue with relish, clearly quite satisfied with the delicacies it had snared.

By now, Jiang Qiang’s body was coated in foul-smelling, viscous slime, which numbed her like an anesthetic, rendering her unconscious.

On the left, Fang He kept kicking his legs frantically, but they only flailed weakly in the air. His shifty eyes darted toward Guan Qian, who kept his distance, and Fang He cried out for help. Yet the more he struggled, the tighter the vine-whip constricted him.

“Oh, my god, I don’t taste good! I haven’t bathed in weeks! I’m covered in weird diseases—you’ll catch something!” Fang He babbled incoherently, his big mouth spilling panicked nonsense.

“Damn it, Fang He, shut the hell up!” Mo Han, trapped on the right, roared in fury, his face darkening. That damned Fang He was only provoking the Spirit-Eater Demon further, and the three of them would die even faster as a result!

With a sharp swoosh, Guan Qian was pushed to the brink. Thick vine-whips closed in from all sides, and the entire shaded ground shook violently, forcing Guan Qian to narrowly dodge the relentless lashes again and again.

Seeing the three bound captives about to be delivered into the monster’s maw, Guan Qian could no longer spare a thought for the lashing whips. In a flash, he lunged toward the Spirit-Eater Demon’s main trunk.

He had to get close, find its weakness, and deliver a fatal blow!

But no matter where he struck, the Spirit-Eater Demon’s body was as impervious as steel, utterly unaffected. Guan Qian grew desperate.

Stinging pain flared all over his body as he stared at the monstrous, beautiful face looming above. Guan Qian narrowed his pale eyes. The creature’s defenses were formidable, and the only exposed area—the head—was all but impossible to approach. He was caught between a rock and a hard place.

“The eyes!” In that split second, Guan Qian locked onto the Spirit-Eater Demon’s eerie green pupils.

In a flash of movement, Guan Qian leapt into the air.

He darted up the thick trunk, leaving afterimages in his wake, climbing higher with every bound. In an instant, he reached the creature’s waist.

The Spirit-Eater Demon was truly immense, its towering form casting a demonic shadow over everything, the oppressive aura suffocating.

Enraged, the Spirit-Eater Demon lashed its vine-whips together, weaving them into a single, thicker whip that stretched out menacingly.

With crisp, cracking sounds, the whip struck at Guan Qian’s afterimages, shattering them to pieces. But Guan Qian moved even faster, dodging every obstacle to get within striking range. Still, one whip caught his arm like an iron bar, nearly knocking him off the trunk.

He felt the terrifying, intersecting whips closing in behind him and sucked in a cold breath. The number of whips was increasing rapidly; the ground itself seemed a nest for the creature’s vines. Who could fathom how monstrous the Spirit-Eater Demon’s body, hidden beneath the earth, truly was?

Guan Qian drew ever closer to the monstrous head, its vastness growing with every step, pressing down on him like Mount Tai.

It was an aura of pure terror, an oppressive force like nothing he had ever felt.

At last, Guan Qian reached the demon’s face. With a roar, the Spirit-Eater Demon dropped its head and inhaled at the base of its neck.

A mighty suction, like a vortex, enveloped Guan Qian. The raging air currents wrenched at his skin. His feet began to lose their grip, and he was about to be pulled into the gaping maw.

“Do or die!” Guan Qian summoned every ounce of strength, leaping beneath the demon’s head and clutching tightly to the petals of its blooming bud. The force made the head shake violently.

The Spirit-Eater Demon tried to fling Guan Qian off its head, howling in fury. The centrifugal force was overwhelming, and Guan Qian was thrown off balance—yet his hands, like suction cups, clung desperately to the bud, refusing to let go.

He had only one chance—he had to seize it, or all four of them would become the demon’s meal.

At last, the Spirit-Eater Demon halted its wild thrashing. Guan Qian’s entire body throbbed with pain and fatigue. He stared into the creature’s green eyes, gritting his teeth. In that fleeting instant of stillness, he hurled the dagger from his belt.

His heightened senses guided his aim with pinpoint precision—now, in his white-eyed state, his micro-awareness was even sharper. The Spirit-Eater Demon could not evade.

A thunderous howl erupted as green liquid gushed from one of the monster’s eyes like a spring. All the vine-whips flew into a frenzy.

“Watch out! It’s gone berserk—don’t let the whips fling you off!” Guan Qian shouted, a new danger looming as the demon rampaged.

The wild, erratic whips danced madly, loosening the bonds around Jiang Qiang and the others.

“Jiang Qiang’s passed out! What do we do?” Mo Han yelled, seeing that she was completely unconscious.

“Take care of yourselves—I’ll get Jiang Qiang down first!” Guan Qian frowned; the three of them were in grave peril. He had to get them clear of the demon’s reach as fast as possible.

Though he could maintain the white-eyed state, Guan Qian, now wounded, felt exhaustion creeping in. He steadied himself, using his heightened awareness to sense the chaos, then leapt from vine to vine, closing the distance to his friends.

At last, Guan Qian reached them. He anchored himself, dragged the bound Jiang Qiang free, and in a flash, lowered her to safety.

But Mo Han and Fang He were flung away by the rampaging whips.

(A late chapter!)