Chapter 597 - 558: Beyond Imagination, the Strangest of the Strange
Chapter 597: Chapter 558: Beyond Imagination, the Strangest of the Strange
"Sob... sob... sob..."
Beneath the massive Ancient Divine Insect Corpse, the gray-clothed boy’s ceaseless sobs echoed.
He whimpered and sobbed, his cries wretched and pitiful.
Even as he cried, his tongue was relentlessly scouring the inside of his mouth. It was as if he wanted to scrape his own cheeks raw, just to find any lingering trace of sweetness.
He had already devoured the fragrant, sweet mung bean cake.
He had wolfed it down in a frenzy, completely outside his own control, only to be consumed by regret the moment he finished.
’What was that? What in the world *was* that?’
The gray-clothed boy, who had never tasted anything sweet—who didn’t even know what "sweet" meant—felt the most powerful, most violent shock of his life.
The Heaven and Earth Scale materialized, and Song Ciwan received another flood of emotions from the gray-clothed boy.
[Human Desires: Shock, horror, and confusion from a Tier Three Chaotic God Martial Artist. Weight: Three catties and nine taels. Tradable.]
[Human Desires: Awe, infatuation, and regret from a Tier Three Chaotic God Martial Artist. Weight: Four catties and six taels. Tradable.]
...
A single mung bean cake had actually brought someone to tears!
Not only had the mung bean cake brought him to tears, but if he weren’t restrained by the Forbidden Rune Technique, the boy would be beating his chest, stamping his feet, and slapping himself furiously.
Weeping bitter tears, he was filled with regret and longing. "I... I... I finished it? I actually ate it all?"
’I’m such an idiot!’ he thought. ’I can’t believe I didn’t save any for Uncle Dong!’
The gray-clothed boy’s whimpers turned into full-blown wails.
Song Ciwan let him cry. After a time, he suddenly snapped back to his senses.
Then, an indescribably ferocious light shot from the gray-clothed boy’s eyes. It was a tangible gleam, and were he not bound by the Forbidden Rune Technique, it was hard to say what kind of bizarre power it might have possessed.
But with the Forbidden Rune Technique active, an invisible force kept the boy subdued, making him cower like a quail.
All he could do was glare, his eyes fixed on Song Ciwan. "You have more! You have more of that stuff, don’t you?"
Song Ciwan smiled faintly. "I do. Do you want more?"
The gray-clothed boy said, "I want more. Will you give it to me?"
Song Ciwan said, "That depends on what price you can pay, or what you have to trade for it."
The gray-clothed boy opened his mouth, but for a moment, he said nothing.
He silently savored the wondrous warmth spreading through his stomach from that strange thing he’d eaten. ’It’s amazing,’ he thought. ’There’s a feeling of being full, but not much... mostly, it just makes me feel hungrier...’
His entire body seemed to be screaming for more. More of that stuff. Much, much more!
Such a tiny piece wasn’t even enough to fill the gaps between his teeth.
And yet, that wondrous warmth left him feeling incredibly comfortable. It was completely different from eating Insect Food. Insect Food was bitter and acrid, and every time he ate it, he had to endure a painful period of digestion.
He had never known that food in this world wasn’t just bitter, acrid, and a source of full-body pain.
It turned out... there was food that could make a person feel so pleasant.
’But for all its pain, Insect Food gave them strength,’ he reasoned. ’What could that strange thing offer besides a pleasant feeling?’
The gray-clothed boy agonized over it for a brief moment, the space of one or two sharp breaths. Then he opened his mouth, and through gritted teeth, he shouted, "I’ll trade you Insect Food for it! One... two pieces of Insect Food for one of those things you have!"
"It’s called a mung bean cake," Song Ciwan informed him. "What I gave you is just one of the things I eat. I have ten with me. I’ll trade them to you for one hundred pieces of Insect Food."
The boy was stunned by her outrageous demand and immediately flew into a rage. "You’re going too far! How dare you? Why should ten tiny mung bean cakes be worth a hundred pieces of Insect Food? Insect Food makes us Strong! What can mung bean cakes do? You... you..."
He wished he could raise his fists and fight another three hundred rounds with this outsider!
Song Ciwan wasn’t the least bit flustered. "You don’t have to trade," she said simply. "In fact, I’m the one taking a loss here. You know that as well as I do."
The gray-clothed boy instantly deflated, like a quail being choked.
His anger subsided. With a light tap of her finger, Song Ciwan released the Forbidden Rune Technique binding him. Her meaning was clear: ’You can go now.’
The gray-clothed boy shifted uncomfortably but was reluctant to actually leave. He hesitated for a moment, glancing up at the massive insect corpse overhead, then at the sky outside the window.
The sky showed signs of darkening.
The boy quickly said, "I’ll trade with you! Give me back my Silver Fork, and I’ll go cut the Insect Food."
Song Ciwan’s expression remained unchanged, but with a light flick of her wrist, the Silver Fork flew high into the air. It suddenly shot toward the massive, bound insect corpse!
’The boy’s words just now sparked a thought. Could it be that these Chaotic God Martial Artists can only cut the corpse because of these silver forks?’
The result, however, was not what Song Ciwan expected. The Silver Fork streaked through the air like a bolt of lightning, arcing as it pierced the massive insect corpse—
Of course, it only passed through a phantom image.
The Silver Fork completed its arc and flew back into Song Ciwan’s hand.
It all happened so fast. The gray-clothed boy had wanted to leap up and snatch the Silver Fork, but before he could even begin to move, it had already returned to her like a bolt of lightning.
The boy even wondered if the flash of silver light had been a figment of his imagination.
He turned to look at Song Ciwan in horror. In that moment, he finally sensed the despairing gap in power between them.
The gray-clothed boy involuntarily took a step back.
Song Ciwan raised her hand again. This time, she tossed the Silver Fork gently. It flew unhurriedly toward the gray-clothed boy.
The boy instinctively shot out a hand and caught it!
He swallowed a gasp of surprise. This time, Song Ciwan didn’t need to say another word. With a light push from his toes, he leaped into the air.
Thick chains bound the insect corpse firmly in mid-air. The gray-clothed boy leaped onto one of them, landing with his feet placed one in front of the other.
His Body Technique was agile, possessing an instinctive lightness.
Once on the chain, he moved like an agile ape, scrambling along the links toward the tail end of the corpse—
Though it was impossible to tell if it was the tail or the head, as the corpse was just a pitch-black, cylindrical mass, like a worm with no discernible ends. What made it infinitely more terrifying than a normal worm, however, was that its round body was covered in countless long, serpentine tentacles.
And on each of those tentacles grew innumerable fleshy nodules that looked like eyes!
The overall image was so grotesque and terrifying that one glance was more than enough to make anyone look away.
Song Ciwan fought back her revulsion and kept her eyes locked on the gray-clothed boy’s movements.
She watched as he crouched down at one end of the corpse, his feet steady on the chain, while his hands shot out swiftly toward the carcass.
An indescribable power, invisible to the naked eye, coated his palms. Song Ciwan, however, could perceive it with her Spiritual Eyes. His hands began to cut with incredible speed.
Piece after piece of pitch-black insect flesh, each about half the size of his palm, flew out from his cuts, all of them landing in a dark leather pouch at his waist.
But that was not what truly shocked Song Ciwan. The spot on the corpse’s end where he had first cut was clearly missing a chunk of flesh. But at some point, that empty space began to slowly, slowly—
—grow back before her very eyes!