Would You Believe Me If I Said This Was an Accident?

With Lu Yang's explanation, everyone finally realized they had made a huge blunder—the black Golden Core they had spent so much time studying wasn't a Golden Core at all. No one could blame them. Mountain-Carrying Boars were practically made of gallbladders, but the formation of gallstones from excessive bile secretion had only ever been seen in those at or above the Golden Core stage. The Five Heroes of Eagle Mountain had never been qualified to encounter Golden Core demon beasts before, so it was only natural they didn't know. Most importantly, who could have imagined that a Golden Core cultivator—or beast—could even get gallstones? "That's completely normal," the Immortal Fairy said matter-of-factly in response to Lu Yang's question. "Mortals get ordinary gallstones, so naturally, those at the Golden Core stage get Golden Core gallstones. Perfectly reasonable." "It just shows how little you've seen. You know what viruses are, right? Those things that grow inside a body and make you sick. I've even seen cases where, as a cultivator's cultivation increased, the virus grew right along with it! Have you ever seen a Nascent Soul-stage viral cold?" The Immortal Fairy smugly flaunted her bizarre repository of knowledge. Lu Yang shook his head. Forget seeing one, he had never even heard of such a thing. "In ancient times, when the cultivation of viruses grew alongside living beings, it caused quite a few problems. When Immortal Ying Tian established heavenly tribulations, one of his considerations was actually to help high-level cultivators eradicate viruses by having the tribulation lightning kill them off while crossing the tribulation," the Immortal Fairy revealed yet another ancient secret. "Third Brother, in the future, if you don't know what you're looking at, don't yell nonsense!" the hooked-nosed leader reprimanded Old Third, who was in charge of butchering. Old Third felt thoroughly wronged. Just a moment ago, each of you was guessing more enthusiastically than the last, and not one of you recognized it as a gallstone. Now you're pinning the blame on me? Even if you're the leader, you can't be this unreasonable! Muttering complaints in his head, Old Third extracted the Mountain-Carrying Boar's gallbladders. One, two, three, four, five... Saying that a Mountain-Carrying Boar was practically made of gallbladders was not a figure of speech, but a statement of literal fact. "Mountain-Carrying Boars really do have plenty of guts. They charge at any demon beast on sight, even if they run into the Dragon Clan or Phoenix Clan," the Immortal Fairy chimed in from personal experience. "Doesn't that incur everyone's wrath?" "No, everyone avoids them like the plague. Think about it: demon beasts fight mainly with their mouths and claws. If you defeat a Mountain-Carrying Boar, you get splattered with bile from head to toe—bitter and acrid! Who could stand that?" "Still, based on the Mountain-Carrying Boar's unique traits, I created a delicious dish that received widespread acclaim." "What did you create, Fairy?" "Bitter melon stewed in bile. Clears heat and removes toxins." Lu Yang involuntarily shivered. "That thing was widely acclaimed? Who had the privilege of tasting it?" "Immortal Jiuchong. He hadn't become an immortal back then and had been poisoned with a deadly venom. I saved him, and seeing him at death's door, I made him a bowl of heat-clearing, toxin-removing bitter melon stewed in bile." "He slowly woke up, took a sip, uttered the single word 'Good,' and promptly passed out again." "It was probably because of the poison that he couldn't control his body. When he saw me coming over with the bowl, he was still struggling desperately. And when he said 'Good,' his face was horribly contorted. Truly pitiable." "...Pitiable indeed." "Did the poison clear?" "It cleared! After he woke up, he spent half the day violently vomiting and threw up all the poison." Lu Yang: "..." Why was this detox method completely different from what he had imagined? "Enough chatting. Go fight," the Immortal Fairy said, and once again kicked Lu Yang out of the spiritual space. "Fight?" Lu Yang muttered under his breath, then suddenly snapped to awareness. He extended his divine sense and swept the surroundings. "No one? Wait, no—underground!" Lu Yang looked down. The ground was sinking inward; there was a demon beast beneath them. "Prepare for battle!" Lu Yang shouted to warn the others. The demon beast below gave him an unsettling premonition of danger. Boom— An earthworm as thick as a water vat burst from the soil. Four silver rings encircled its body, gleaming brightly under the moonlight. Opening its gaping maw, it devoured the two freshly butchered boars in a single bite. Thanks to Lu Yang's warning, everyone had dodged in time, leaping away and clearing the area just before the earthworm breached the surface. "What is that?" Meng Jingzhou exclaimed in shock. How could an earthworm be this powerful? "It's a Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm!" Lu Yang recognized the beast's origins at a glance. The ones responsible for tilling soil in the Herb Garden watched over by Old Ba were a pair—oh, two pairs now—two pairs of Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworms, the kings among earthworms. The earthworm couple in the Herb Garden possessed five silver rings, with a sixth currently coalescing, meaning they had peak Soul Formation cultivation. The worm before them had four silver rings, which likely indicated a Nascent Soul stage cultivation. Even more troublesome was that the swordsmanship Lu Yang took pride in posed little threat to such an earthworm. A single slash was very likely to result in two earthworms, which would make things even worse. After swallowing the third boar demon beast roasting over the Three-Flavor True Fire, the Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm turned its unsatisfied gaze toward Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou. Neither Lu Yang nor Meng Jingzhou had ever faced a Nascent Soul stage opponent, and in a situation like this, the Five Heroes of Eagle Mountain were completely useless. "Heaven-Shaking Six Forms!" Meng Jingzhou struck first, clenching both fists as veins bulged on his arms. His momentum was tremendous, looking powerful enough to shake heaven and earth. Unexpectedly, a layer of mucus covered the Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm. Meng Jingzhou's full-strength punch failed to even scratch its skin, its force completely deflected away. With a flick of its tail, the Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm sent Meng Jingzhou flying, breaking several of his bones. If he had not been a body cultivator, that single strike would have killed him. The gap between the Nascent Soul stage and the Foundation Establishment stage was simply too vast—an entire Golden Core stage separated them. "Break!" Lu Yang roared, unleashing the Break Formula. Sword light cascaded like a waterfall, breaking the sound barrier and tearing through the darkness. The blade carried the moonlight, resembling the strike of a god of slaughter. This was the strongest technique Lu Yang could execute. The Green Blade Sword pierced through the mucus and drove deep into the beast's body. Thrashing in pain, the Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm sought to smash this human to death. It rolled wildly. Whenever Lu Yang was about to hit the ground, he executed Shrinking the Earth to avoid slamming into the earth and being crushed. Lu Yang exerted force through his wrist, attempting to wrench the blade upward, but the beast's flesh was too resilient; clamping its body tight, it trapped the Green Blade Sword fast inside its flesh. "Roar, roar..." The Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm emitted low rumbles, seemingly mocking Lu Yang's futile efforts. It was capable of speech, of course, but facing this bunch of weak humans, it disdained communicating with them. Snapping its jaws open, it lunged to bite Lu Yang. At the critical moment, Lu Yang yanked out the Green Blade Sword and narrowly evaded the attack. Lu Yang's heart sank. The Break Formula was his full-power strike, capable of slaying late Golden Core and even half-step Nascent Soul demon beasts in a single blow, yet it hadn't inflicted any fundamental damage on the Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm, serving only to enrage it. More importantly, that single strike had drained most of his spiritual energy. "Tsk, this is trouble." On the other side, seeing that even Lu Yang was out of options, Meng Jingzhou remembered something and fished out five Directional Teleportation Talismans from his robes. However, there were seven people present. If he and Lu Yang fled, the Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm would certainly not spare the Five Heroes of Eagle Mountain. "Young heroes, don't worry about us! Run!" the hooked-nosed leader shouted when he saw the Directional Teleportation Talismans in Meng Jingzhou's hand. In their line of work, they had long put life and death out of mind. What to do? What can we do? Meng Jingzhou gritted his teeth. Running away wasn't his style, but if they didn't, everyone would die here! Finally, shutting his eyes, he pulled out one teleportation talisman and threw it toward Lu Yang: "Lu Yang, catch!" Lu Yang leaned forward and lunged, but unexpectedly, the Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm sneered, interposing its massive body between him and Meng Jingzhou—and crushing the Directional Teleportation Talisman right underneath itself. "Want to run?" The Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm spoke for the first time, sneering repeatedly in mockery of Lu Yang's futile attempt. "Now!" Lu Yang shouted. "Do you even need to tell me?" Meng Jingzhou's lazy voice came from the other side as he activated the Directional Teleportation Talisman. This was the exact moment he had been waiting for. An invisible cubic barrier of light enveloped the Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm. Confused about what was happening, the beast slammed against it with all its might, but the barrier was extraordinarily sturdy and impossible to breach. The moment Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had laid eyes on the Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm, they had recalled the chamber of commerce attendant's pitch: "If you encounter a mortal crisis in the dense forest, all you need to do is activate this talisman, and it will teleport you safely back to Demon Quelling Pass. Even if demons including those at the Nascent Soul stage take action, they cannot interrupt the teleportation process!" Thinking in reverse: since it could teleport a human back to Demon Quelling Pass safe and sound, why couldn't it teleport a demon beast back instead? ... Encased in the cubic barrier of light, the Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm transformed into a streak of light and soared toward Demon Quelling Pass. Before the city gate, the three grand characters "Demon Quelling Pass" instantly stunned the beast. The guards were thoroughly baffled by the sudden appearance of a Nascent Soul demon beast. In over a decade on duty, they had never seen a demon beast so audacious—crashing straight into Demon Quelling Pass without even attempting a disguise. "Vile beast, what guts you have, daring to attack Demon Quelling Pass under cover of night!" A booming voice echoed from within Demon Quelling Pass—it was a Soul Formation cultivator on the night shift. Watching a burly man fly out from the fortress straight toward it, the Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm felt absolute despair. "Would you believe me if I said this was an accident?" the Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm said, forcing out a trembling smile. The burly man sneered. "Take a guess whether I believe you!" He extended a colossal hand and slapped the Silver-ringed Heavenly King Earthworm to death with a single strike.