NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 570 - 570 Heart-devouring Demon
Chapter 570: Chapter 570 Heart-devouring Demon
The interior of the hollow cave was straight, but after descending a certain distance, rotating stone stairs began to appear. Lin Xiao transformed from the incarnation of a Zorel Elf back into the body of a True God here.
The True God could change form into any race and would obtain all the talents of that race. For example, by becoming a Dragon, one would gain all the abilities of a Dragon, including the Dragon Language Magic inherited through bloodlines. If transformed into a small field mouse, one would be able to burrow with claws, and if transformed into an ant, would acquire the colossal strength innate to ants.
Of course, the weaknesses of an ant would also be inherited; even an ant with Divinity is still an ant and could easily perish in a minor mishap.
Thus, transformation was usually used to cope with specific situations. Facing situational dangers, it was safer to revert to the True Form of the deity.
The rotating stone staircase was very dark, devoid of any light. Even, the True God, with Dark Vision, couldn’t see too far ahead. He snapped his fingers, summoning a light orb that hovered above his head. The gentle white light cast upon the surrounding stone walls, illuminating the area within a radius of hundreds of yards with clarity.
The rotating stone staircase was covered with moss and bore no traces, suggesting that it had been a long time since anyone had passed through here.
Following the rotating staircase to the bottom, he stepped onto the fourth layer’s soft ground without encountering a single living creature, a silence so deep it was unnerving.
Unlike the other layers of the Dark Territory, if the first layer could be described as rugged hills, the second as ragged plains, and the third composed of vast caverns and broad plains, then this fourth layer was markedly different.
The fourth layer consisted of countless massive stone columns that connected the floor to the ceiling of the fourth layer, creating a spectacle akin to a stone forest.
Between the stone columns lay wide expanses of open ground, covered in a profusion of delicate subterranean plants.
These plants had tiny stalks covered with fine hairs, resembling foxtail grasses, giving off an extremely faint phosphorescent light that was almost invisible to the naked eye of an ordinary person. However, because these plants were almost ubiquitous in this layer, their numerous faint lights combined to make the space of this fourth layer resemble a night with a moon; dim, yet even mortals could discern nearby objects with their eyes.
These subterranean plants grew through photosynthesis powered by the peculiar pulses of energy found in the fourth layer of the Dark Territory. Upon entering this layer, Lin Xiao sharply sensed these ubiquitous strange pulses had the ability to influence the minds of living beings, which was no wonder strange species like Heart-devouring Demons had evolved here.
Lin Xiao stepped onto the soft ground, walking slowly as he carefully tuned into these strange pulses, which came from afar like waves of invisible tides, endless and incessant.
Any creature that spent too long in this environment would be influenced by these peculiar pulses.
After walking for a while, Lin Xiao suddenly sensed another strange fluctuation clashing with the peculiar pulses—a subtle, enigmatic call that unexpectedly appeared in his mind, beckoning him in that direction.
Lin Xiao looked in that direction with a hint of surprise. He couldn’t see anything due to the distance, but within the sight that only a True God could possess, a massive distortion suddenly surged amidst the strange pulse waves in the distance.
“Interesting!”
He was certainly not afraid and strode toward that direction. After approximately ten kilometers, a serpentine river appeared between the stone columns, an exceedingly rare sight in the Dark Territory.
The river was over a hundred meters wide, and its waters turbulent. He could even see aquatic creatures unique to the underground environment leaping out of the water. Occasionally, large shadows swept underneath, stirring up dark eddies, indicating that the river was far from safe.
Just then, a rather large silver-scaled fish leapt from the water. Lin Xiao immediately cast a telepathic spell on the fish, and as it plunged back into the water, instantly, a brand-new image appeared in the mind of Lin Xiao, the caster.
Clear, transparent currents enveloped him, with numerous fish of various sizes swimming around, creating a bizarre scene.
Trying to look below, he couldn’t see the bottom nor did he know how deep this underground river might be.
Suddenly, the surrounding fish rapidly scattered, and the large fish also frantically dashed to the left, darting out several meters. Then, he saw a huge dark shadow open its cold, razor-sharp teeth and lunge forward. The vision abruptly ended there.
Withdrawing his spiritual focus, Lin Xiao then fixed his gaze on the massive dark shadow that had just devoured the silver-scaled fish, casting telepathic spell on what seemed to be a seven or eight-meter-long fish.
This large fish was likely a tyrant within the river, charging about recklessly underwater, attacking any sufficiently large fish it encountered with a bite.
On the river surface, within the river, and even in the deep depths of the riverbed, it roamed freely, devouring at will.
Through his vision, Lin Xiao also entered the deep reaches of this subterranean river and saw many previously unseen lifeforms.
For a True God, exploring the unknown creatures of a Different Domain was also a valuable form of cultivation; knowledge itself is a form of Strength. The broader and more expansive one’s experiences, the greater the benefit to the True Body.
Time was not an issue, so he sat by the riverbank, mentally sharing with the large fish, jointly exploring the mysteries within this great river.
Unknowingly, the monstrous fish swam downstream for perhaps over ten kilometers, reaching a wide area of calm waters, a confluence of lake or river—indeterminable. As it passed a particularly inconspicuous riverbed, suddenly, the riverbed exploded, a huge tentacle with razor-sharp teeth popped out, and its top jaw, adorned with three large teeth, dug deeply into the fish’s body, pulling it toward the riverbed.
“Bobbie Worm?”
This thing reminded Lin Xiao of a notorious bug, only it was many times larger in size.
That big fish was certainly doomed, and Lin Xiao, having no intention to save it, withdrew his spell.
Having wasted some time here, he didn’t continue his attempts and cast a flight spell on himself to fly forward.
It’s worth mentioning that due to the influence of the strange pulses here, the Magic Net was distorted, meaning any mage utilizing the Magic Net for spellcasting would have their strength greatly diminished. Lin Xiao, who did not use the Magic Net for casting spells, directly used his own power.
Of course, he also didn’t dare to connect with the Magic Net, as he was still an outsider. The moment he connected with the Magic Net, he would immediately be discovered by the Magic God who controlled it.
Before long, he arrived near the twisted mass in the fourth layer of the underground that emitted the strange pulses. On the surface, one could only see an incredibly thick stone pillar ahead, hundreds of times thicker than the rest. Although it looked indistinguishable from the other pillars, in his spiritual perception, there was an extremely powerful will hidden within.
As he drew closer, countless tiny points of light began to emerge slowly from the enormous stone pillar, as if alive, gradually moving towards the pillar as Lin Xiao approached.
At the same time, Lin Xiao felt weak spiritual powers making contact with him, but none could invade his mind.
“Is this the Heart-devouring Demon?”
There are certainly more than Heart-devouring Demons that can spiritually control other creatures, but in the fourth layer of the Dark Territory, the Heart-devouring Demon is the best fit for this power.
Meanwhile, as he approached the stone pillar to a certain distance, the giant pillar suddenly burst into a dazzling light.
As the light slowly faded, an odd creature with many tentacles slowly emerged from the pillar.
This creature resembled a circular head covered in urchin-like soft tentacles, each topped with a yellow eye. Imagine hundreds of eyeballs staring at you at the same time – the sight could scare an ordinary person to death.
Lin Xiao was very curious as he examined this Heart-devouring Demon. Generally, organisms with simpler organizational structures tend to have lower intelligence, but Heart-devouring Demons completely shattered this common belief.
Whether it was Humans, Beastmen, or Elves who had encountered Heart-devouring Demons in history, they were all known for their high intelligence.
However, the innate mind-controlling talent of the Heart-devouring Demons was too terrifying and fear-inducing. Thus, the race was artificially vilified and distorted, leading ordinary people to think of Heart-devouring Demons as unintelligent, sinister beings.
Of course, this race is indeed very evil and frightening. Regardless of how high their intelligence might be, their reproduction method of controlling other organisms to lay and hatch eggs within their brains proved that others’ judgments of them were not wronged.
Heart-devouring Demons have two forms, one is the battle form, and the other is the master of minds form.
The battle form, also known as the Spirit Absorbing Monster, involves a fully developed Heart-devouring Demon tadpole being implanted into the ear of a helpless humanoid creature. The Heart-devouring Demon tadpole burrows into the victim’s brain, quickly consuming the gray matter and substituting it with its own vile tissue.
Under its influence, the juvenile and the un-destroyed brainstem of the victim merge, eradicating any remaining personality and soul. Then, the juvenile uses the humanoid body as its own. Within a day, the victim’s body also starts to morph, completing the creation process of an adult Spirit Absorbing Monster.
As for the repulsive many-tentacled creature before Lin Xiao, it is the master of minds form of Heart-devouring Demon, commonly known as the Heart-devouring Demon, and it looks precisely like that.
The transformation process of the Spirit Absorbing Monster is irreversible; once the juvenile has been implanted for over an hour, the host is done for. Whether it’s expulsion of disease, Remove Curse, Revive the Dead, Restoration Technique, or even the Complete Resurrection Technique, even if a True God personally intervenes, they cannot reverse this process.
Moreover, after metamorphosis, the Spirit Absorbing Monster does not inherit any commonalities from the victim, whether they are Human, Beastman, or Elf. After being sacrificed, all will turn into Spirit Absorbing Monsters, retaining no original racial traits.
Lin Xiao was rather surprised that there was only a Heart-devouring Demon here and no Spirit Absorbing Monsters. Normally, the dwelling place of Heart-devouring Demons would have powerful flesh-bodied and spellcasting Spirit Absorbing Monsters as guardians.
But he didn’t care about these things; he knew he had found the Heart-devouring Demon, and his goal had been achieved.
Raising his hand, he directed an invisible force at the floating Heart-devouring Demon.
The Heart-devouring Demon seemed to be stimulated, its tentacles clenching tightly as a powerful force of the mind struck Lin Xiao.
Naturally, it was useless. How could a mere Heart-devouring Demon shake a True God Incarnation?