Chapter 285: Where’s the Trust Between Humans and Peas?
Zhu Yao raised her head to take a look. As expected, a spot of light appeared in front of them, and it was growing even brighter. Zhu Yao was ecstatic. Could that be the exit? Just as she was about to head over to take a look, that ray of light suddenly split into two. Furthermore, they were closing in… closing in… emitting out a faint green glow.
Eh? Why did she feel that these two rays of light were like two eyeballs?
The hell, they really were eyeballs! Only after approaching did she realize what light it was. It was clearly a gigantic caterpillar, a gigantic caterpillar blocking the entire pathway.
“Run!” Zhu Yao grabbed onto a wonderful youth on each hand, and then wildly sprinted in the direction they came from.
That caterpillar seemed to have already discovered them, and was actually chasing in their direction. As it chased, it leaked out slimy, sliding sounds. It closed in pretty quickly, and in just a few moments, there were merely only a few meters between them.
The hell, this caterpillar must have mutated, right? I have never seen a caterpillar that can run so quickly!
Zhu Yao had no choice but to circulate her spiritual energy to release a wind-type mystic art to aid in their sprinting. They made countless turns wanting to throw it off, however that caterpillar seemed to have marked them, as no matter where they turned, it could precisely find the direction they turned to. As it chased after them, it let out a roar and its entire head began to split apart, revealing a dark hole. Its surroundings were filled with round teeth which stretched all the way into its innards. A bad stench instantly suffused into the air of the entire passageway, and a green liquid was even filling the entire ground.
The hell, she must had been transferred to a horror film, and not a xianxia world! This was too much, wasn’t it!?
“Grandma, just what in the world is that?” Little tyrant was flustered as well. Turning his head around to take a look, his expression turned deathly pale.
“I don’t know either.” That caterpillar had neither spiritual energy nor demonic energy. It was not a demon nor was it even a beast, as if it was merely a pure overgrown caterpillar! “It doesn’t matter. Hurry and run! Run as fast as you can!”
That caterpillar approached even closer, and just as that gigantic mouth was but a few meters away from them, Zhu Yao no longer had any choice. “Fly on your swords!”
As she shouted out loud, she summoned her own sword and cast a wind-type defensive formation with a flip of her hand, temporarily stopping that caterpillar. Then, she placed down a barrier around her before standing on the flying sword.
The two of them reacted at the same time as well, as they immediately got onto their swords and placed down barriers of their own. The path here was too narrow, so it was indeed really difficult to navigate with their swords. However, with a barrier, they could expand the passage. As they flew forward, the stone walls that collided with the barriers would create a pile of shattered rocks. The three of them was presently speeding forward like a bulldozer.
This method ended up being pretty effective. Though it carried its own dust cloud effect, their fleeing speed was twice faster than before. An hour later, they could no longer hear the sliding sound of that caterpillar.
“Did we throw it off?” The two young pioneers were stilled in a soul-shaken state.
Zhu Yao stopped her “bulldozer”, and heavily panted. “Probably!” She felt as if she had fled across the entire world.
Little tyrant and Ye Qingcang were tired as well, as they slammed onto the ground with their buttocks. The spiritual energy in their bodies had long been expended with almost nothing to spare.
“Let’s rest for a while!” Zhu Yao heaved a long sigh of relief. Just as she was about to sit down, she heard a rumbling sound from within the stone walls.
What is that?
Before she could even react, the entire stone wall fell apart with a bang, and a gigantic caterpillar head broke out the wall. In its wide-open mouth was a few shattered rocks that had yet to be chewed into tiny bits.
The hell. This caterpillar sure loved them very much! It was even willing to drill through the walls just for them.
“Hurry and dodge!” Zhu Yao merely had the time to pull onto the nearest Little Bai, while Ye Qingcang was forced to roll to the other side of the passage. The caterpillar appeared right in the middle just like that. Disgusting liquids dripped off its gigantic mouth as it wriggled towards them.
Zhu Yao’s heart clenched. Dealing with this caterpillar was not difficult, but the problem here was that they were within a cave. If she were to make a move against it, the cave would collapse and they would still be buried here alive.
However, in this present situation, they would still be eaten alive as well. She had no choice but to make a gamble. Gritting her teeth, the mystic art in her hands were just about to materialize.
“Pea~” The pea which had been kept in her robes the entire time suddenly woke up. With a swoosh, it once again grew into a gigantic ball, instantly occupying the entire passageway.
Zhu Yao was ecstatic. “Peapea!” It’s awake?
“Pea~~” The pea called out again, and suddenly, with an ‘ah’ sound, it opened its large green mouth towards the caterpillar.
Could it be that it was about to swallow that caterpillar like before? Great! Her heart was instantly filled with excitement. Peapea, I won’t ever blame you for your heavy tastes anymore.
The pea’s mouth grew larger, larger…
And then…
It lowered its head, and with a ‘guaaah’ sound, it vomited onto the ground.
Zhu Yao: …
Bai Zhiyuan: …
Ye Qingcang: …
Zhu Yao’s mood instantly plummeted onto the bottom of a valley. This… Was he disgusted with the ugly look of its opponent?
Was it really time to be concerned about appearances!? -faints- Where’s the most basic form of trust between humans and peas?
“Pea…” The pea’s voice weakened as well, as its entire body instantly shrank into the size of a basketball. Even the jade-green colour it had earlier was beginning to dim a little. The pea looked entirely disheartened.
Just how much is it disgusted with that caterpillar, hey!?
The caterpillar was instantly enraged. It’s figure instantly accelerated, and with a turn of its head, it pounced towards their direction.
“Peapea!” Zhu Yao called out, but it was already too late. That caterpillar had already swallowed that basketball-sized pea, and just as it was about to disappear into the caterpillar’s mouth…
Suddenly, the pea’s body instantly grew out long green thorns. Before the caterpillar could even close its mouth, the thorns instantly pierced through the caterpillar’s entire head.
The pea which was smooth and round just earlier, had instantly turned into a hedgehog. While it penetrated the caterpillar… it continued to puke.
Alright, it seemed like it was truly disgusted with this caterpillar.
Receiving this attack, the caterpillar began to desperately struggle right before its death. Its gigantic body began to rampage, and the stone walls were thrashed and destroyed like tofu by its movements. Instantly, the earth shook tremendously, and the passageway began to collapse.
“Not good, it’s going to collapse!” Zhu Yao’s heart clenched. As she cast an art with her hands, she shouted in Ye Qingcang’s direction. “Set down a defensive barrier.”
Just as they had finished the preparations, the stone ceiling above collapsed as large amount of rolling stones came crashing down.
The passageway was beginning to be buried by even more destroyed rocks, and she could even hear the cracks of the solid rocks above her. Just when Zhu Yao thought that they were about to be buried alive, unexpectedly, large rays of light suddenly scattered down.
An exit!
Zhu Yao immediately summoned her sword intent and directed it towards the direction of the light. In an instant, a path was created.
“Hurry and get moving!” She shouted in the direction of the two youths, and then turned to look at the mouth of the caterpillar. “Peapea.”
A green ball of light flew out, and only then did she finally charged through the exit.
In the next moment, immense crashing sounds could be heard. A large crater had been formed below from the collapse.
Zhu Yao heaved a sigh of relief. How fortunate.
“Grandma.” Little Bai suddenly called out in fear.
“What is it now?” Zhu Yao raised her head, and was stunned by what she saw.
Caterpillars!
The entire ground was filled with gigantic caterpillars, forming an immense sea of white caterpillars as they constantly rolled and squirmed. They seemed to have barged into the nest of caterpillars.
Zhu Yao simply felt chills all over her body. In a situation like this where they were outnumbered, they could only…
“Run!”
After confirming a direction, they quickly flew on their swords over. Behind them, countless squirming sounds could be heard. Zhu Yao flew even faster.
“Grandma!” Little tyrant tugged her.
“What is it?” She continued to fly at mad speeds.
“Why are we running?”
“If we don’t run, wouldn’t we be waiting to be swallowed?”
“But we’re no longer in the cave!”
“Eh!?” Zhu Yao halted in mid-air. The hell, she had gotten used to running, and had forgotten this fact. “Attack them with fire!” Zhu Yao cast a fire-type mystic art with her hands, instantly materializing a sea of fire which blazed through the group of caterpillars that was chasing relentlessly after them.
Little tyrant and Ye Qingcang materialized large amount of fireballs as well, throwing them straight in their direction.
In an instant, miserable cries rang out. A large half of the dense pack of caterpillars earlier had been exterminated. The rest did not dare to chase after them either, as they hurriedly fled off.
Smell of charred meat paste floated in the air. The faint rancid stench that was lingering as well made it extremely disgusting.
“Grandma, these caterpillars… just what in the world are they?” Little Bai panted heavily. His spiritual energy had already been completely expended from the fireballs earlier, and Ye Qingcang was the same. However, their expressions were filled with shock. “I have never seen such demonic beasts?”
“Those aren’t demonic beasts.” Zhu Yao sat cross-legged, and spoke after catching her breath. “No matter how low ranked a demonic beast is, it will still carry demonic energy. However, I did not feel even the slightest bit of it within those caterpillars. Not just demonic energy, there wasn’t even the presence of spiritual energy within them either.”
“Granny, you’re saying… Those are just pure caterpillars!?” Do they even grow that big?
Zhu Yao nodded. “That’s a possibility.” She looked around. “This place isn’t safe either. It’s best we hurry and leave.” Who could know just what would appear next? Without any spiritual energy and without a spiritual beast with her, not to mention she was just a Foundation practitioner, she was basically unable to sense the presence of others in advance. Though those caterpillars were weak, they might sneak up on them after all.
Zhu Yao signalled to them. Just as she was about to move, something rolled over to her feet.
“Pea. Pea.” The basketball-sized pea was presently following her footsteps. This time however, it did not return to the size of a fist, but continued its basketball figure.
It puked out so much earlier yet it was still able to grow in size, it must had gone through a lot. The corner of Zhu Yao’s lips twitched. She suddenly felt that she had gained a strange pet. However, while the others were raising spiritual beasts, she was raising a pea!
Zhu Yao faintly sensed that this foreign land was not safe, but she had never expected it to be this unsafe. As they went further in, the number of strange creatures increased. Bees, mosquitoes, worms, spiders, and even ants had appeared. Furthermore, they seemed to have all taken some form of drug, as they were all inconceivably big.
They personally witnessed a three-meter tall mosquito sucking an entire pool of water dry, and as though it was still not satisfied, flew over to the river at the side. Zhu Yao felt that her worldview had suffered a severe blow. Should she celebrate for the fact that this mosquito was not interested in blood?
Just what in the world was this place?