by Tai Baiyang
When Zhang Mu was still bewildered after pondering over the Obsidian Beetle, the Nightmare Worms were closing on him already. In the meantime, Yuan Rui was pulling Zhang Mu’s body to the corner to hide while the mutated wolfdog was baring its teeth with a nasty look in its eye. No matter how much it struggled to stand up, its four limbs kept slipping on the ground. Furthermore, the act of striking an attitude was not in the eyes of the Nightmare Worms. Also, who knew how many first-ranked mutated wolfdogs were eaten by them already.
The situation now was extremely critical!
Zhang Mu was desperately trying to get out of the chain-like psychological binds. Every time he struggles, he merely broke away a layer of the psychological chains. However, the binding was not as strong as the one that Zero gave him, whereby he would get a sense of powerlessness when he could not break free from them.
Despite that, there were more than a dozen of Nightmare Worm in front of his eye. Therefore, it implies that there was at least a dozen layer of chain that the Nightmare Worms bound on him, and the time now was not enough for him to break through completely.
Let me free!
No matter how much Zhang Mu roared in his heart, it was useless. Considering that this was a psychological control in reality and not in the dream to deal with him. In the illusion, even if the enemy was strong and powerful, as long as you found the id, even that nasty dream was still yours to control. As long as you woke up, you would have the absolute strength to resist them.
Seeing that these ugly wireworms were about to crawl onto his body, Zhang Mu’s eye held a trace of desolation.
If only he had bought a few more psychological defense type of armor, he would not end up like this.
Feeling that he still had more than ten psychological chains on him, Zhang Mu was a little desperate, because the closest Nightmare Worm was close to his arm already.
But at this moment, the Nightmare Worms that had come to eat were stopped abruptly in an orderly fashion. Their compound eyes were averted from Zhang Mu, the food that they were about to eat, to something that was behind him. The fat bodies were slightly trembling as if they had seen something terrifying.
Zhang Mu also felt a sense of pressure coming behind him, but he did not detect any sense of hostility towards him, and there was a familiar feeling too.
Then there was only one possibility, the Obsidian Beetle, had woken up.
Boom!
The walls of the house suddenly collapsed, and the roof was smashed open. The piercingly cold wind poured in no time, causing pain to Zhang Mu’s face, and the main factor was that he was still unable to move.
What is wrong with Little Black? Just by making an appearance, he had to make such an enormous ruckus?
The cold wind did not make much impact on the Nightmare Worms as they were still lying flat on the same place with six pairs of compound eyes twirling non-stop, looking steadily yet, not daring to move a single bit.
Suddenly, the psychological chains on Zhang Mu’s body were scattered, and he had regained back the control of his body. Subconsciously, he turned his head and looked behind, with one glance, he was left dumbfounded too.
Yuan Rui’s vision was looking dull at one direction while the mutated wolfdog just laid on his stomach on the ground, without lifting its head.
The body of the Obsidian Beetle swelled up to four meters tall. No wonder the roof was smashed open as it was standing unwaveringly in the wind, looking majestic and sacred at the same time.
Now, the golden pattern on its forehead was huge, showing a complete picture. There were three rays of golden lightning intertwined, glowing a tinge of black faintly.
After a period of stalemate, the Obsidian Beetle let out a low roar suddenly. It was different from its usual sharp tone as it had a tinge of antiquity.
The roar was towards the Nightmare Worms. A spunk to those tiny little creatures that had offended its dignity.
Zhang Mu quickly give way, with one hand carrying Yuan Rui while the other hand was dragging the mutated wolfdog as if it was a lifeless dog. He then pulled them out of this area, leaving this battle for the Obsidian Beetle to handle.
Suddenly, the bunch of Nightmare Worms had some pale yellow blood flowing out from their mouth. At the same time, the Obsidian Beetle lifted its forelimbs and hit the ground with a flump, creating a crack on the floor immediately. These fat and plump Nightmare Worms were thrown off their feet and overturned on the ground one after another.
It turned out that the psychological chains from the Nightmare Worms were withdrawn from Zhang Mu and placed on the Obsidian Beetle.
Even though the psychological chains of a dozen Nightmare Worms were very sturdy, when facing a berserk Obsidian Beetle, it did not seem to be working. Now that the Obsidian Beetle was freed, they had suffered when their psychic power was forcibly torn apart and bounced back to them. All of them had a disheartened look.
When they sensed that the current Obsidian Beetle was unbeatable, the Nightmare Worms appeared to have a human-like reaction in their eye. They should be having the thoughts of escaping as they slowly wiggled backward.
The Obsidian Beetle wanted to give chase, but with the Nightmare Worms holding a gleam in their eye, its footsteps were stopped. However, the numbers of blood flowing out of the Nightmare Worms’ mouth were increasing as well.
Zhang Mu obviously did not want to let them go, but when he tried to take a step, he found that he could not move again. Among them, there were about a dozen of Nightmare Worms staring at Zhang Mu, as he lost control once again.
So they did not use their full strength when dealing with him just now?
Currently, it only took about ten of them to hold down Zhang Mu. But at least Zhang Mu was also shouldering the burden with the Obsidian Beetle now. Without the ten worms, the Obsidian Beetle straightaway broke free of the chains and jumped high. With a claw slashing down, it pinned the two slowest Nightmare Worms on the spot to death.
Seeing that their companion was beginning to die, the Nightmare Worms started to panic. One of them mustered great determination and squeal loudly. At this time, ten Nightmare Worms move out from the crowd and no longer escape.
They were overdrawing their psychic power to block the Obsidian Beetle’s attacks. But at the same time, the body of these ten Nightmare Worms was withering at a rate that was visible to the naked eye.
The formerly white plump body was now turning into dry, yellow and thin. Their head was also stained with blood.
After eating so many souls, they learned to sacrifice a small portion of them to protect the rest?
Zhang Mu was astonished by the way these Nightmare Worms were acting as he never thought that they could obey an order up till this point.
But they have underestimated the ability of the Obsidian Beetle and its determination to kill these worms who had offended its dignity.
Under the terrifying gaze of these Nightmare Worms, the Obsidian Beetle chirped loud and clear. It suddenly spread out the wings that were almost as wide as its body. Fanning it up and down, it seems to declare to the world of its comeback as it looked down on those worms that wanted to escape.
Chapter 135: The Beginning of the Awakening
The Obsidian Beetle fanned its wings as if the bindings attached on his body were disappeared, and flew in the air right away. It dived towards the ten Nightmare Worms and drew deep scars on the back of their body.
Snow white meat was flipped open, together with plant fibers gushing out. When their psychic ability loses its effect, these Nightmare Worms was even more useless than the most common first-ranked mutated animal.
In this case, even a slightly deadly mutated animal could prey on all of them now. The furious Obsidian Beetle did not use any of its ability and merely used its claw to shred open these fat worms into two pieces.
The Obsidian Beetle looked coldly at the lifeless bodies of the Nightmare Worms, no idea what was it thinking about. Until Zhang Mu shouted at it using their connecti
on, it slowly responded and returned back to his side.
Looking at the Obsidian Beetle’s enormous body, Zhang Mu lodged a complaint, “Can you change your size first? It is very tiring for me to raise my head up to talk to you. Hurry up. The matters have been solved, so why are you still big?”
Who knew that the Obsidian Beetle would sound helplessly in Zhang Mu’s mind, “I also don't want to. But it seems that I could not control the size of my body anymore. Also, you must know that previously was my normal size. I have no idea what is happening now, and I could not control my body anymore. The moment I was awake, I can feel that my willpower was stripping away slowly, and it was even more terrifying than the Nightmare Worms trying to prey on my soul.”
Zhang My helped Yuan Rui up. However, the mutated wolfdog seems afraid of the vigor coming from the Obsidian Beetle, since it did not revert back to its usual size. It did not dare to get up and continued to lay on the ground motionlessly.
Looking at the state of the mutated wolfdog and recalling the strange looks from the bunch of Nightmare Worms, Zhang Mu frowned slightly. What is going on here? What kind of awakening did Little Black have precisely?
The pattern of its forehead felt strange when he first saw it, but because it was very vague, he did not take it to heart. Now, it was showing three rays of intertwined lightning.
However, even Zhang Mu did not have any impression of the pattern in his past life. He really could not remember any of it.
He raised his head and asked the Obsidian Beetle in a solemn manner, “What did you saw in your dream just now?”
The Obsidian Beetle sounded uncertain, “My memories were rewound. Everything was normal from the moment it rewinds from the second I went into the house and slept, to the day I had met you on the street.
However, when it was about to rewind further, the constructed dream seems to stir something in the depths of my memory and was scattered immediately.
I saw a place where the lightning was intertwined vaguely, which was full of golden rays. I was wrapped in the golden rays, tightly, with no strength to struggle, but I didn’t want to either. That feeling, was really warm and cozy.”
Zhang Mu was shocked. The Obsidian Beetle was a cold-blooded animal, and to be able to feel warm, it should be the place where it was born. But, does that mean that these mutated animals were not caused by the evolving waves on the Earth’s creatures, forming a mutation? So, the situation now regarding the Obsidian Beetle, does it mean that the Obsidian Beetle was not a creature on Earth?
Or, like the Bloodvine Lotus, was it an embryo hidden from the ancient Earth or a fossil, and under the effects of the evolving waves caused by the opening of the Paradise Era, it restored its life force. Hence, the awakening now was its primary memory.
He asked out loud, “So can you recall where was the place at?”
The Obsidian Beetle shook its head and replied, “No, I do not have a clear consciousness at all. Even these were remembered vaguely. However, it seems to take a long time. At first, I wanted to continue sleeping, but I heard you were calling for me. Despite that, I still could not wake up.
However, when you called for me, I felt a distant aura that was provoking my significance, prompting me to wake up completely. The moment I was awakened, my body was uncontrollable.”
After listening to the Obsidian Beetle, it set off a sensation in Zhang Mu’s heart. Did that mean that was another consciousness inside the body of the Obsidian Beetle? Was it another soul? And it seems so powerful that even the Obsidian Beetle could not control it. If not for the Nightmare Worms, it would not call forth this power. He continued to ask the Obsidian Beetle, “Are you able to find if the consciousness still exists inside you?”
What if this could be controlled by the Obsidian Beetle, then wouldn’t he had another helping hand?
“No.” The Obsidian Beetle’s words made Zhang Mu gave up his delusion. “I can’t feel its existence anymore. And the power that helps me block the psychic power is fading away gradually now.”
Sure enough, when the Obsidian Beetle just finished speaking, its size was slowly shrinking and return to its previous form, slightly shorter than Zhang Mu. The three golden rays of lightning on its forehead had become blurry again.
Oh, it reverted back to its original appearance? It seems that the power did not sustain for a long time.
The Obsidian Beetle appeared to be a little exhausted even by maintaining its usual appearance. The ripples on its body swelled and returned back to its smallest size, which was about the size of a palm, and went back to Yuan Rui.
At first, Yuan Rui was startled by the Obsidian Beetle that was over four meters tall earlier and subconsciously rejected it. But when she saw the grievances in the Obsidian Beetle’s eye, she could not help but put it back into her pocket.
She wrapped the bearskin on her body tightly and shivered from the cold wind. Zhang Mu picked up the bearskin on the floor which he slept on, and put another layer on Yuan Rui. He indicated that she should accompany the mutated wolfdog that had return back to normal, now that the vigor from the Obsidian Beetle was gone.
As for him, he was alone in the cold wind, quietly thinking about the matters that happened today.
The howling wind slowly dissipated. Suddenly an alluring smell came from a particular direction. The smell of the mixture of plants and meats on the Nightmare Worm’s body, slowly wafted into Zhang Mu’s nose, attracting his attention.
Zhang Mu wandered slowly over to the Nightmare Worms. Looking at the white meat on the ground that was half frozen, he looked at the fats and felt disgusting. That means that the one attracting him was not the meat, so what else was inside the Nightmare Worm’s body?
He was full of curiosity now because he never heard about it before. But how could he not know this smell? He could only think that the evolvers who captured these Nightmare Worm had deliberately concealed the news to diminish the impressions of the Nightmare Worms.
It was all a scheme!
With this, Zhang Mu followed the wound on the Nightmare Worm’s body and inspected the insides for a long time, feeling the texture of the fibers on his hand.
After a while, a hint of joy was on his face.
Finally, I had found it!
Chapter 136: Soul Crystals
When Zhang Mu touched the smooth ball-shaped object, he did not know what it was. But his instinct was telling him that the object he was holding in his hand, was definitely a treasure with incredible value.
The temptation was unprecedented as the cells on his body seem to be quivering in joy. The moment he touched it, there was an electric current passing through his fingers.
There seems to be a voice saying, “We’re almost getting it, now, immediately, right away!”
If Zhang Mu did not know that there would not be any souls existed after the Nightmare Worms' death because they were only a first-ranked mutated animal, Zhang Mu would think that these Nightmare Worms, which could confuse people's mind, were still alive.
Then there was only one possibility left. That thing, to Zhang Mu, was indeed something he was extremely eager for it.
Zhang Mu was fluttering when he pulled this little ball out from the layers and layers of fats from the Nightmare Worm. He finally recognized what it was.
It was soft, highly elastic, with a deep blue color, crystal-clear and beautiful. The top was decorated with the dots of stars, pretty similar with the vast sea of stars that Zhang Mu once saw them at No. 37. It was like Nature’s most magnificent piece of art. It had a stark contrast when compared with the fat and ugly Nightmare Worm’s body.
Most importantly, the fragrance that it naturally exudes was getting stronger and stronger when putting neared to Zhang Mu.
Not only in the sense of smell, but it also brings enjoyment to your soul.
It was the soul crystal!
Usually, only the third-ranked mutated animals and above could produce soul crystals. Even in the third-ranked psychological muta
ted animals, soul crystals were hard to come by. Zhang Mu had seen this item previously at the era sub-merchants trading fair. Not only him, but all the people presented at that time were deeply attracted by it. Their eyes were filled with greed, but they were afraid of the power of the trade organizer, which was the top few sub-merchants, and reluctantly let their reasoning to overcome their desire.
These soul crystals had an unbelievable benefit, which was to enhance the soul defense capacity. In addition, it was said that when accumulated to a certain amount, it would produce a qualitative change, adding an awakening ability.
Furthermore, this awakening ability was a dominant part of the psychic evolver ability. That was the reason why everyone was going after it, causing a national sensation during that time. But for this item to be taken out for the trading fair, was because the most influential person had already used it for themselves and took the leftovers out as a bargaining chip during the fair.
Even though the soul crystals were revealed because the top powerhouse thought that they were just chicken ribs, but it was squandered after introducing their function at a high price. Zhang Mu, who came to the trading fair to get a look, was left feeling envious on one side.
But how did such a valuable soul crystal appeared inside the body of a first-ranked Nightmare Worms?
That was the point where Zhang Mu felt strange. Usually, for such a soul crystal to exist, required an enormous amount of resources and energy. Only by reaching to the third-ranked, it would be possible to provide that amount of resources.
Zhang Mu was left baffled, but he felt that he could no longer restrain his hand from sending that soul crystal into his mouth.
There should not be any problem right? After bidding successfully at the trading fair, that buyer immediately ate the soul crystal, and it looked exactly the same with the one on his hand with no difference.