Chapter 225: The Plague of Spirit Tapeworms
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh
The great flood came pouring down. Amidst the rushing water, countless Bloodsucking Spirit Tapeworms twisted their long bodies and interwove into one large red meatball after another, each with the diameter of about one mile, rolling and bobbing about in the water and plunging into Great Dream Marsh. For all the other creatures, the filthy mud and dirty water in this place was extremely poisonous, nasty and smelled awful, and could melt their bones and flesh with just a slight contact. But these Spirit Tapeworms were more poisonous and savage than that. Not only could the poisonous swamp water not kill them, it actually gave a boost to their menacing aura.
A great amount of poison was sucked by these Spirit Tapeworms, immediately turning their once blood-red bodies pitch black, while they kept spraying out deadly poisonous gases from their large rounded mouths. The great flood coiled up countless frightening looking meatballs and rushed into Great Dream Marsh. Pushed by millions upon millions of aquatic demons, it very quickly they arrived at the small island where He Qianqiu was trapped. Countless wriggling meatballs shot into the sky and broke apart, turning into countless twisting and bending Spirit Tapeworms, springing and leaping towards the Qin army who had formed into a formation in midair.
It was a miserable scene, as these Qin soldiers only had the cultivation base ranging from Houtian to Xiantian realm. Before they could have the time to activate their armors and unleash a defensive spell to protect themselves, countless Spirit Tapeworms had already jumped onto their bodies. There were at least one hundred thousand Spirit Tapeworms clinging and coiling on the body of each Qin soldier, thin and long, wriggling and twisting endlessly. It was as if these soldiers' bodies had suddenly grown countless very long, black and red hair.
Bloodcurdling howls kept breaking out in the air, while the blood essence of these soldiers was quickly and completely sucked out by these Spirit Tapeworms. In just a few seconds, over several tens of thousands of Qin soldiers had turned into mummies, dried and withered, falling off from the sky and plunging into the rushing flood. The great flood came too swiftly and suddenly. Thus, before the Qin army could change their formation, the flood and countless Spirit Tapeworms had obliterated them.
In some parts of the swampy land were huge and lofty waves that were raised up by aquatic demons of Nascent Soul realm, smashing down heavily like a real mountain. The formation of Qin army was like a walnut under a large hammer, being crushed into pieces by the several miles wide waves that were harder than the hardest steel. The formation was broken, and the Qin soldiers forming the formation had their bodies torn and ripped as well, then dragged and pulled into the flood. Countless Spirit Tapeworms then swam through the water and charged towards them, sucking every single drop of blood that sprayed out from the broken bodies of Qin army.
The one hundred thousand feet tall waves were pouring down from the mountaintop, which had given them an incredible speed and momentum that could break through any obstacles. On top of that, there were a great amount of aquatic demons casting spells in the water, so as to further boost the force of the waves, which made the power of these great waves simply startling. The formation of Qin army was shattered into pieces in an instant, and over two hundred thousand soldiers were either killed or seriously wounded. But the lucky survivors were immediately coiled up by countless Spirit Tapeworms, and had their blood essence and energy sucked out completely.
Zhang Yi and all the other important ministers were caught unprepared by the sudden great flood. He gave a loud cry furiously, unleashing a layer of dark light around his body. In the next moment, half of the ground in Great Dream Marsh began to shake, as a vast amount of black gases sprayed out from underground and fused into Zhang Yi's body, transforming into a tremendous magnetic force that felt as boundless as the greatest ocean. With a thought in his mind, he turned the magnetic force into a gigantic net, then cast it out forcefully into the surroundings.
The gigantic net that was made entirely from magnetic force caught a group of roughly a dozen meatballs, each with the diameter of one mile. Zhang Yi gritted his teeth and made the invisible and tremendous magnetic force clutch towards the center. The magnetic forces brushed against each other rapidly, generating many pitch-dark thunderbolts, which then transformed into lightning that streaked into all directions. The dozen meatballs enveloped by the magnetic forces was instantly smashed into pieces by the explosion, turning countless Spirit Tapeworms into nothingness.
Jarring noises of whizzing suddenly echoed out from everywhere, as several hundred tiny and long Spirit Tapeworms shot into the sky, coiling towards Zhang Yi like a group of savage serpents. These were the expert Spirit Tapeworms. When they saw many of their offspring killed by Zhang Yi, they immediately flew into a great rage and struck out together.
Zhang Yi grinned disdainfully. He casually performed a hand gesture towards the sky, forming countless flying swords with the magnetic force, which then pierced through the air and thrust towards those expert Spirit Tapeworms. The flying swords that were formed using the magnetic forces had no corporeal shapes, and could not be seen with naked eyes. Yet, they were extremely heavy and sharp. With a flash from countless of these sword beams, miserable shrieks kept ringing out from everywhere, as several dozens of Demon Core realm and three Nascent Soul realm Spirit Tapeworms were sliced into countless pieces.
It was at this moment the fearsome ability of Bloodsucking Spirit Tapeworm showed up. After these broken bodies of Spirit Tapeworms fell into the water, and were immediately nourished by the blood essence that surged out from the Qin soldiers' bodies. Very quickly, each of the broken parts regrew into a brand new Spirit Tapeworm. According to the length of their bodies, each of them would share the portion of the cultivation base which once belonged to their original form.
One of the Spirit Tapeworm with early-stage Nascent Soul realm was sliced into eighteen pieces, and each of these eighteen pieces had equally shared all of the original cultivation base. Each of them had become a brand new Spirit Tapeworm with the cultivation base of peak-stage Gold Core realm, making hissing noises and plunging into the flood water. After that, eighteen small rounded mouths poked a little bit out from the water, opened widely and sprayed out black poisonous gases that were as sharp as a needle and as fast as lightning. All these poisonous gases that were extracted from the mud and filthy water in Great Dream Marsh were extremely poisonous and nasty. When a cultivator was touched by them, not only his corporeal body, even his soul and Nascent Divinity would suffer serious damage.
Zhang Yi was shocked. Three large flags sprung out from his body immediately, blinking brilliantly and protecting his entire body, while he gave a loud and stern cry, "Be careful, everyone! We can't just slice these worms into pieces. They can be truly killed only by smashing them into powder using the force of thunder!"
Bai Qi, who had his cultivation base dropped to middle-stage of Nascent Soul realm after forcibly using the bugle of Dragon Ying not long ago, gave a cold snort and drew out his sword. He swung it in the air and cried out sternly, "Foul worms, how dare you to fight with us, the mighty army of Great Qin?! Come and face your death!" Then, he gave a loud roar and emanated a wild killing intent that swept across the area. In an instant, all the Spirit Tapeworms within one hundred miles from Bai Qi had their bodies turned stiff, as their life force was completely taken away and turning into a bloody killing intent that soared high up into the air, before quickly fusing into Bai Qi's body.
A long and sonorous cry rang out, and the aura wrapping around Bai Qi suddenly became stronger, showing a sign that he was about to break through the middle-stage of Nascent Soul realm and return to peak-stage. He kept swinging the sword in his hand, unleashing one after another deadly killing intent into all directions, killing and extracting the life forces of the Spirit Tapeworms within one hundred miles, turning it into killing intent which then shot back into his body. The more Spirit Tapeworms he wounded and killed, the stronger the aura in his body became. An immense amount of energy was rushing and flowing in his body like a great river, and gradually, deafening battle cries could be heard coming out from every single pole on his body.
With just Bai Qi alone, all the surrounding Spirit Tapeworms were greatly suppressed, and dared not poked their heads out from the water. They quickly plunged back down into the water, rushing towards the several demon beasts led by Ice Earthworm.
However, apart from Bai Qi, none of the other men including Li Si and Zhang Yi could cause an efficient damage to the army of Spirit Tapeworms with their magic spells. It was especially true for Li Si, as he was an expert in bow and arrow. If he were fighting head-to-head with human cultivators, his archery skill could make him a fearsome foe. But when he was faced with the seemingly endless army of Spirit Tapeworms, even if he used up all his backup arrows, he could barely kill a few of them.
Helpless and having no alternative, after killing a bunch of Spirit Tapeworms with their magic spell, Li Si, Zhang Yi, and all other men quickly stepped onto their clouds and flew back to Ying Zheng's chariot.
Ying Zheng rested his eyes on the great flood underneath thoughtfully, shook his head bewilderedly and said, "This is strange. Why is Yan Dan's army not here? How come it is that demon dragon who came attack us? Xu Fu, can you use the Cauldron of Yu again?"
Xu Fu bowed solemnly and said helplessly, "Your Majesty, none of us here have sufficient energy to use the Cauldron of Yu now. We need a huge amount of blood essence for a blood sacrificing ritual in order to unleash its mighty power. But, these demon worms have devoured all the blood essence. Although I do wish to perform a blood sacrificing ritual now, we just don't have sufficient resources."
Ying Zheng frowned and gave an unpleasing snort. He looked at the great flood that was wreaking havoc underneath, then said in a cold voice, "Then we will wait!" With that, everyone shut their mouths. They remained standing high up in the sky, looking at the fierce battle between Nine-headed Ice Earthworm and the army of countless Spirit Tapeworms brought here by Spirit Tapeworm King.
The flood water had now turned crimson red. Countless Spirit Tapeworms were rolling and wreaking havoc everywhere in the water. The several thousand demon beasts brought here by Ice Earthworm had killed over several millions of tiny Spirit Tapeworms, then were immediately flooded by another wave of endless Spirit Tapeworms. As these Spirit Tapeworms had very tiny and long bodies, there were over several millions of them clinging on the large bodies of these demon beasts at any given time, sucking and feeding on their blood essence. One after another, demon beasts rolled and struggled, cried and yelled, while the army of Spirit Tapeworms rushed over to their bodies and sucked out every single drop of their blood essence.
In just less than fifteen minutes, several thousand formidable demon beasts were killed by these Spirit Tapeworms. Meanwhile, after these Spirit Tapeworms were fed with sufficient blood essence, they used part of them to strengthen themselves, while the rest of them were used to turn into countless eggs which shot out from their tails. In a blink of an eye, trillions of Spirit Tapeworm eggs were being laid. The Spirit Tapeworm King then hastened the hatching process of these eggs, which then made these trillions of new Spirit Tapeworms hatch and join the army in attacking the remaining demon beasts.
Meanwhile, the Spirit Tapeworm King himself had brought a large group of Nascent Soul Spirit Tapeworms, coiling and clinging tightly to the Ice Earthworm's body. The several hundred miles long body of Spirit Tapeworm King was like a very sharp steel wire, twisting and looping endlessly around the Ice Earthworm. He exerted all his force in squeezing and tightening his body, tearing out many fine bloody lines on the Ice Earthworm's body.
Bits and drops of blood essence were oozing out from Ice Earthworm's body, quickly seized and devoured by the crazy army of Nascent Soul Spirit Tapeworms. The severe pain made Ice Earthworm shiver from head to toe, while he was trying his best in squeezing back down into the mud deposit.
If he were faced with any other demon beasts and human cultivators, none of them would be able to catch up with him once he squeezed back into the mud deposit. However, as these Spirit Tapeworms had a very peculiar body structure, and their innate abilities were bizarre and ferocious, they would not be hurt by any of the deadly poison here. Countless Spirit Tapeworms followed closely behind Ice Earthworm and squeezed into the deep mud deposit, strangling and tightening their bodies around him. Although the Ice Earthworm had already sprayed out a large sheet of ice frost and killed countless Spirit Tapeworms, he still could not stop Spirit Tapeworm King from killing him.
"The natural restriction between species… The Ice Earthworm is finished this time!" Ying Zheng looked at the spot where Ice Earthworm squeezed into the mud layer coldly, "Who has the method to deal with these poisonous bugs? Hmm? Since we can't use Cauldron of Yu, how about the bugle of Dragon Ying?" He said cruelly.
Frowning and hesitating, Li Si said, "Your Majesty, although these poisonous worms came with the flood, I don't think they are aquatic demons... I am afraid that the bugle of Dragon Ying could do no harm to them."
While Ying Zheng and his men were hesitating, the great flood had swept across the entire Great Dream Marsh, rushing towards the large city that Qin army was building on the shore of the swampy land. The city had the circumference of roughly one hundred miles, and a three hundred feet tall wall had already been erected around it. On the surface of the wall were countless primordial runes and restrictive spells. It was unknown that who was currently taking charge of the defensive work in the city, as several tens of thousands of practitioners were seen shooting into the sky and reciting incantations with deep voices. Soon, the wall began to emit a dazzling light, which then transformed into a very thick light screen that enveloped the entire city.
The great camp of Qin army in the city remained standing still, while the several hundreds of thousands of barbarian slaves that were working outside the city had been struck with a bloody calamity. They were greeted by the army of Spirit Tapeworms, and before they could let out any miserable howls, they were sucked dry and became mummies.
On the small island that He Qianqiu was trapped, a large white crane, that measured over one thousand feet long from head to toe, shot up into the air. He was the true form of He Qianqiu.
Then, a crystal-clear cry of a crane rang throughout the clouds, "I never expected that you are the first who came to my rescue, Old Dragon King! This is strange! Where are Old Bear and all the other people? Those rascals with no code of brotherhood!"
Sitting behind the back of the iron-shelled turtle, Wu Qi too was looking around again and again. Then, he suddenly cursed furiously, "Su Qin, the old fool! He had ordered me to be the first to distract Qin army, and now that I've already broken their formation, where are the other people? Where are they?! Is he playing some kind of tricks on me??"
Ying Zheng suddenly saw Wu Qi from above, and a fury surged and rushed into his head immediately.