Drip, drip...
Transparent viscous fluid, emitting a strong foul smell, slowly dripped from the wide-open bloody maw of the Earth Armor Beast, landing on Gou Donglai's forehead.
At this moment, the terrifying maw was less than a meter away from them.
Yet, it hung suspended in mid-air, motionless.
However, very quickly, the Earth Armor Beast moved again, its massive body drilling towards the cave wall on one side.
Saying it drilled seemed inappropriate; it was more like it was bitten by a more powerful fierce beast and dragged directly out.
At this moment, everyone hadn't reacted yet. What had just happened seemed long, but it was actually only an instant.
"Is everyone alright? Let's get out first."
Only when a calm voice sounded from above did it pull everyone's consciousness back.
"Senior... Senior Brother Lin!?"
Although they didn't understand the situation, upon hearing the familiar voice, the group immediately reacted.
At this time, the previously sealed cave entrance had already been broken open. Everyone quickly ran out of the cave, only then discovering the Earth Armor Beast lying motionless outside the cave, its life extinguished.
Lin Sheng looked at the several people who rushed out, his gaze landing on Mo Xing, and he frowned.
Mo Xing's injuries were somewhat serious. He took out a pill from his chest, directly threw it into his mouth, and then had two people take him to Da Cui Peak for treatment.
As for the remaining people, although they were quite disheveled, they only suffered some minor superficial injuries. After taking healing pills and resting for a few days, there would be no major issues.
"Master Gou, how did you encounter this thing?"
Lin Sheng looked at the somewhat pale-faced Gou Donglai and asked.
He hadn't expected how they would encounter such a huge creature. He naturally recognized this thing as an Earth Armor Beast. Although Earth Armor Beasts often live underground, their main hunting is done on the surface.
Although its appearance is terrifying, it doesn't like to eat meat, mostly feeding on plants.
Moreover, it's not very courageous. Logically, encountering several Blood Transportation Warriors like Gou Donglai and the others, it shouldn't have actively attacked but should have chosen to avoid them.
At this moment, Gou Donglai's gaze was still fixed on the massive, heavy corpse of the Earth Armor Beast. In a daze, he felt a sense of unreality. He noticed there were no obvious wounds on the Earth Armor Beast's body, except for the hole in the center of its forehead, which was as thick as an adult's arm. Streams of red and white viscous liquid were flowing out, already soaking a small area of the ground.
"It just died like that!?"
He couldn't help but swallow. If it weren't for the deformed scales on the head of this Earth Armor Beast from being struck by him earlier, he would even doubt if this was the one he encountered.
As the person who directly clashed with this giant creature, he was well aware of its terrifying strength and powerful defense.
Earth Armor Beast, just by hearing the name, you know this is a beast known for its defense.
The strongest defensive part of this beast is its head. Even with his full-force strike, he couldn't cause any substantial damage to its head.
But now, this giant creature was lying straight before him like this, and the fatal injury was clearly the penetrating wound on its head, and the perpetrator of this wound was clearly Lin Sheng before him.
To be able to kill this terrifyingly defensive Earth Armor Beast with one blow, is this something a Martial Artist who has just entered the Blood Transportation Realm can really do!?
Perhaps even Senior Brother Zhao Kongfang, who has been practicing for several years, might not be able to do it.
The strength of this Senior Brother Lin is definitely much stronger than he imagined.
He knew that being accepted as a Personal Disciple by Xie Qingyun, this Senior Brother Lin's talent and potential were definitely not weak. However, since he had just entered the Blood Transportation Realm, in his opinion, the other party's future achievements would surpass his own, but there was clearly still some gap currently.
But the scene unfolding before his eyes clearly proved that his previous thoughts were too absurd. The strength of this Senior Brother Lin was definitely above his own.
Thinking of this, he shivered. Turning his head, he saw Lin Sheng looking steadily at him. He quickly described the course of events in detail.
After listening, Lin Sheng frowned slightly.
"This Earth Armor Beast actively attacked you."
"That's right. We also didn't expect such a huge creature to be hidden near this beast mine. It happened so suddenly that Master Mo was directly severely injured."
Gou Donglai let out a bitter smile.
"Moreover, for some reason, the strength of this Earth Armor Beast is much stronger than that of a normal Earth Armor Beast. Otherwise, even if this beast had the advantage of the terrain, we wouldn't have been so disheveled."
As he said this, a trace of lingering fear appeared on his face. It was not hard to imagine that if Lin Sheng hadn't arrived in time this time, their group would definitely have suffered heavy casualties.
Lin Sheng thought for a moment but couldn't figure out the reason. Looking at Gou Donglai's pale face, he said.
"As long as there were no casualties, it's fine. Master Gou, you should also go back and rest. The matter of excavating the beast mine will be postponed for a few days."
"Yes, Senior Brother Lin."
Hearing this, Gou Donglai immediately responded respectfully, subconsciously bowing, showing a few more points of respect than before.
Lin Sheng didn't pay attention to the change in the other party's attitude. He waved his hand and let him leave.
Soon, only he remained outside the entire cave.
He walked directly to the side of the Earth Armor Beast's corpse.
He hadn't expected to encounter a Pseudo-Spirit Beast here, but having encountered it, he naturally couldn't let it go. He hadn't yet absorbed a beast like the Earth Armor Beast, so he might as well absorb it first.
However, before that, he first looked at the wound on the Earth Armor Beast's forehead.
The blow that killed the Earth Armor Beast just now used the Chasing Star Finger and also utilized the newly condensed Bone Strength.
And the effect indeed did not disappoint him. Just one blow extinguished its life force.
Of course, to have this power, a more important point was the superimposed penetration talent of the Green-Eyed Fierce Eagle.
Otherwise, he definitely wouldn't have been able to do this.
"It seems that after superimposing the penetration talent, the power of the Chasing Star Finger is probably not inferior to ordinary Bone Strength."
As thoughts turned in his mind, his palm was already placed on the Earth Armor Beast's wound.
Soon, a series of information appeared on the consciousness panel.
【Beast Name: Earth Armor Beast (Pseudo-Spirit Beast)】
【Body length exceeds ten feet, covered in thick armor, vigorous life force, skilled at drilling, cautious nature; This is a lucky Earth Armor Beast. By chance, it found a demon beast ore seed in a ground vein beast mine. After long-term absorption, its strength is much stronger than its peers, and over the years, there might be a possibility of breaking through limitations.】
【Absorption Requirement: Constitution 3】
【Absorption Effect: Constitution Increase 5, Strength Increase 5, Agility Increase 3】
【Talent: Digging】
After reading the information displayed on the consciousness panel, Lin Sheng's eyes narrowed.
The attributes of this Earth Armor Beast are good, indeed above ordinary Pseudo-Spirit Beasts, and it also possesses a talent.
However, what interested him the most was the demon beast ore seed mentioned in the information. He didn't know what the so-called ore seed was exactly, but anything associated with 'demon beast' would clearly not be ordinary.
Especially from the information, the reason this Earth Armor Beast could grow to this point had a great relationship with this demon beast ore seed.
After years of absorbing the demon beast ore seed, it even had the chance to break through limitations.
This effect reminded him that the blood dragon fruit eaten by the Three-Eyed Spirit Monkey had a similar effect.
Although the effect of this demon beast ore seed seemed to be quite a bit worse than the blood dragon fruit, being able to have this effect was already considered extremely rare.
After all, besides artificial cultivation through various methods, the only things he currently knew that could have the effect of breaking through limitations were these two.
While thinking, the action in his hand did not stop. He chose to absorb the Earth Armor Beast without hesitation.
In the span of a breath, the Earth Armor Beast was successfully absorbed by him.
Although the absorption consumed a large amount of the Earth Armor Beast's blood, there was still a considerable amount of blood remaining in its body. He naturally wouldn't waste this blood. He immediately swallowed it all to increase the activation progress of the third imprint.
Although the blood of a Pseudo-Spirit Beast is not comparable to the blood of a true Spirit Beast, absorbing the remaining blood of this Earth Armor Beast also increased the activation progress of the third imprint by about five percent.
As for the Materials from this Earth Armor Beast, judging by the quality of the flesh and blood together, it could also fetch a good price.
Of course, he didn't plan to sell its flesh and blood. Using it for daily cultivation consumption was just right.
The scale armor material on its body, however, could all be sold.
He didn't rush to deal with the Earth Armor Beast but instead turned his gaze towards the deep, dark cave.
"Since this giant creature grew to this point by absorbing a demon beast ore seed, it definitely wouldn't easily leave its location. Therefore, this so-called demon beast ore seed is likely near this cave."
Thinking this, he already stepped into the cave.
Earth Armor Beasts are cautious and won't easily attack powerful prey.
What's more, among Gou Donglai and the others, seven people were Blood Transportation Warriors. According to common sense, it should have avoided them and wouldn't have launched a frenzied attack on them.
The reason for such abnormal behavior indicates that there is something near the beast mine that the Earth Armor Beast considers its 'reverse scale'.
With just a little thought, Lin Sheng deduced the possible situation based on the existing information.
Immediately, he quickened his steps. Before long, he reached the deepest part of the cave.
He thought for a moment and still chose to absorb the Earth Armor Beast.
The Earth Armor Beast's Digging talent, he hadn't used it yet. Now was a good time to test it out. After all, as a beast that lives underground, its talent should be able to play a significant role underground.
As soon as the switch was completed, he directly activated the Digging talent.
Instantly, he felt a layer of fine yet tough black scales appear on his skin.
These scales constantly vibrated on his body at an extremely fast speed.
He tentatively extended his palm towards the stone wall, only to feel that the tough stone wall was like soft tofu before him at this moment, easily sinking into it.
Lin Sheng raised an eyebrow and simply drilled his entire body into the stone wall.
What surprised him even more was that even though his entire body was submerged within the stone wall at this moment, he could still breathe.
Although it wasn't as easy as on the surface, he could indeed breathe underground.
With his current level of strength, holding his breath for an hour was not difficult in itself.
Now, after activating the Digging talent, it would probably be no problem to stay underground for a few days.
"A good talent."
Lin Sheng gave his evaluation of this talent. Although it wasn't a combat-type talent, being able to hide within the ground could definitely be considered a quite good life-saving talent.
Just like the Drilling Rat Pei Er, the reason he could keep escaping under the pursuit of Liu Tianci and several Prefecture Yamen constables was precisely because of his drilling talent.
He then switched his second imprint to Big Yellow and was pleasantly surprised to find that after activating the Digging talent, the influence of the underground environment on perception seemed to have weakened considerably.
He continuously searched near the mine.
About one-third of this mine had already been excavated. He first checked inside the mine, but unfortunately, he found nothing. He even went all out and dug through the mine.
As for the so-called demon beast ore seed, he didn't see it, but he did trigger a mine pattern disturbance that caused an explosion of considerable power. However, it posed no threat to him.
"It's not near the mine, so where could it be?"
Being inside the rock wall, Lin Sheng frowned. He had originally thought that since it was an ore seed, it was very likely within the mine. However, he had basically checked the entire mine now.
Thinking to himself, his body continuously moved around, constantly expanding the search area.
Suddenly, his movement paused. In his perception, he suddenly discovered a broken passage, or rather, calling it a passage wasn't accurate; it was more like a snake path drilled out by a python.
Seeing this, Lin Sheng's heart stirred. Although this underground hole was much smaller compared to the size of the Earth Armor Beast.
But since the Earth Armor Beast has the Digging talent, it's not impossible for it to have left such a snake path while moving underground.
Thinking this, he began searching along this snake path.
The snake path was quite winding and twisting. Clearly, this area was the Earth Armor Beast's activity range. Lin Sheng continuously moved through it. After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, his vision suddenly opened up.
Before his eyes, a somewhat open underground space suddenly appeared.
As soon as he entered, a strong foul smell assailed him.
It was filled with traces of beast activity. Nine times out of ten, this was the Earth Armor Beast's underground lair.
He glanced at some bones piled in the corner, then shifted his gaze and quickly searched this underground space. However, besides the Earth Armor Beast's feces and some incomplete roots and bones, there was nothing noteworthy.
"It's not here!?"
After scanning the space, his brows furrowed tightly.
"Could it be that the ore seed has already been completely absorbed by the Earth Armor Beast?"
He had already spent quite some time on this and didn't plan to keep delaying like this.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, his nostrils twitched slightly. The next moment, his figure had disappeared from where he was, appearing in a corner on one side of the space. He raised his hand, submerged it into the stone wall, and unleashed strength in his hand.
With a bang, his arm plunged into the stone wall up to the root, and then he pulled out an irregular dark red stone from it.
It was covered in black patterns, and one area was damaged, oozing faint red viscous liquid. What was most peculiar about this stone was that it felt quite soft to the touch, giving a sensation like a woman's soft body, and it emitted an inexplicable wild aura.
However, at this moment, Lin Sheng didn't pay attention to these things, because upon coming into contact with the viscous liquid on the stone, a series of information had already appeared in the consciousness panel.