Immortal Path to Heaven

Chapter 123 Black Magic Crawlers

The big yellow dog glanced at Ou Yangming suspiciously, then turned its head to look around, but no matter how hard it looked, it could not see any pattern from the stone walls.

Although it could not communicate with Ou Yangming through human language, its wisdom was already opened. Moreover, the big yellow dog knew more things than Ou Yangming did because it had the Blood Meridian Legacy and had lived long enough. Nonetheless, there were some aspects where even spirit beasts in real legends could not be mentioned on equal terms with humans, let alone a half-spirit beast like the dog.

Ou Yangming reached out his hand to touch the stone walls nearby and clicked his tongue in wonder.

“Big Yellow, the stones here aren’t ordinary at all, they’re steel. No, they’re better than steel; they’re featured steel,” Ou Yangming mumbled, “This is my first time seeing naturally formed featured steel!”

Ou Yangming could come into contact with a considerable amount of featured iron ingots in the military camp and could retrieve an appropriate amount of steel from the depot, but it was difficult to get featured steel.

It was neither because the military camp did not have it nor because he was not qualified enough, but because featured steel was so small in quantity that almost all Military Fire Blacksmiths treated it as precious treasure. At the beginning of each month, featured steel of a certain quota received by the depot would be distributed among the Military Fire Blacksmiths such that none was left.

Even though Ou Yangming became popular during the smithing challenge, he gained his reputation too late. Kang Weibo had already adjusted next month’s featured steel quota and distribution ratio, but it was for the next month, after all.

Therefore, apart from Old Craftsman’s smithing workshop, Ou Yangming had not seen the precious material elsewhere.

It was said that featured steel was refined through a certain mysterious method, and it was extremely yearned by every trade and industry around the world, thus a limited amount was distributed to the Immense Forest Military Camp.

On a certain level, featured steel’s rarity could be considered roughly the same as normal Power Ores and Agility Ores.

Ou Yangming’s eyes wandered about as he thought, ‘If this stone wall has a huge range and is considerably thick, the natural featured steel alone in the Chaos Cave is enough to make up a massive wealth that could shake the whole country.’ If the information was leaked, even the three Supreme Great Ancestors from the Ni family would not necessarily withstand the greedy eyes from all around the nation.

Nevertheless, this was not Ou Yangming’s concern and he would definitely not leak the information on purpose.

The big yellow dog cast a bewildered look at Ou Yangming as it could not understand what exactly was going on with him.

Featured steel or not, nothing was more attractive for the dog than a roast duck.

Ou Yangming was reluctant to leave such that he turned to look repeatedly at every step he took when he left the stone wall with the big yellow dog. If it was not because Ou Yangming was concerned about Old Craftsman’s safety, he would definitely not leave the place. At the very least, he had to get to the bottom of it and find out the wall’s rough range. However, Old Craftsman’s life was Ou Yangming’s priority at the moment, hence he sighed and left with the big yellow dog.

After leaving the stone wall, they advanced forward without an aim.

All of a sudden, the big yellow dog stopped. It twitched its nose and seemed to be alert.

Though it would stop at every fork in their path to let Ou Yangming make the choice, once Ou Yangming chose the next path, it would always lead the way.

While the big yellow dog could not say it, Ou Yangming was grateful for what it did.

Regardless of the reason, having an easy-going partner, who would take care and assist him wholeheartedly, was indeed something that made Ou Yangming happy, so he naturally put his trust in the dog. As such, Ou Yangming waited with full focus when the big yellow dog was alarmed.

When he scanned the area around them, the Vision +1 attribute on his helmet played a great role.

Ou Yangming suddenly fixed his gaze somewhere because he noticed an exceptionally strange living creature on the left of their path ahead.

It was a scorpion-like monster the size of a human baby, and its body was pitch-black. Without the Vision attribute, Ou Yangming could not have noticed it so easily.

He immediately realized what it was as a thought struck him.

The creature was probably a Black Magic Crawler that Ni Xuetian described.

Since the three Supreme Great Ancestors were all afraid of the creature, it must be unordinary. After exchanging glances with the big yellow dog, Ou Yangming sent the image in his vision to it. He initially wanted to just give it a go but did not expect the big yellow dog to really receive the image.

The big yellow dog nodded at Ou Yangming, then moved forward without a sound.

Soon enough, they were near the weird crawler, which was still staying where it was as it did not notice their presence at all.

They looked at each other again and nodded.

Following that, Ou Yangming flashed to pounce on the crawler, and the saber-light from his saber slashed down like thunder.

His military saber turned into a luster that split the weird crawler into two with ease. When the saber touched the creature’s flesh and blood, the Devouring attribute was unleashed to absorb part of them that was near the creature’s wound.

Familiar energy gushed into Ou Yangming’s body right away, which felt so good that he wanted to moan.

Ou Yangming had activated the Blood Flight Power from his waist sash once when he was on the Testimony Path’s third level yesterday. He did not consume much Qi and blood because the process was short, but it was still a consumption after all, so his mental state could not be maintained at its peak. After slashing the crawler, Ou Yangming more or less compensated for some of the loss, and he quickly became spirited again. The halves of the crawler’s body fell to the ground respectively, which twitched for a while before they stiffened.

Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog were both stunned, and they could tell by looking at each other’s eyes that they were in disbelief.

They were already mentally prepared before the attack, where they would not be surprised no matter how difficult it would be to deal with the Black Magic Crawlers. It was worth mentioning that even the Supreme Great Ancestors dared not resist the mighty creatures because they treated the great ancestors as food.

Even if the crawler had suddenly jumped to evade Ou Yangming’s attack and injured Ou Yangming, he and the big yellow dog would not be taken aback.

However, the reality was that Ou Yangming killed the crawler in one slash. Yes, he killed it…

They were confused about how weak the crawler was.

Ou Yangming pondered for a while. He certainly did not think that Ni Xuetian and the other elders had exaggerated things on purpose because it was not necessary.

“Big Yellow, do you think what we encountered was a larva?”

The big yellow dog nodded kindly after some thought to express that that was likely the case.

They felt that only an immature larva could not withstand even one blow.

Nonetheless, the appearance of a larva meant that there must be a place where the Black Magic Crawlers lived in a group, thus they had to be careful.

The big yellow dog later approached the crawler’s remains and twitched its nose to remember the creature’s smell.

Subsequently, it continued moving forward.

Ou Yangming followed behind it, but when the big yellow dog was slightly further away, his military saber shone as he stabbed it through the two halves of the crawler’s remains.

The Devouring ability was quickly unleashed to absorb the crawler’s flesh and blood.

As Ou Yangming continued to walk, he suddenly paused because he felt an upsurge of joyful emotion.

WC

Before he could suppress the feeling of joy, it was already transmitted to the big yellow dog due to their spiritual connection.

The big yellow dog stopped in shock, then stared at Ou Yangming in confusion as though it was asking if he had found something.

Ou Yangming quickly said, “Big Yellow, I think I sensed that the Land of Inheritance is really in the Chaos Cave.”

The big yellow dog glared at him snappily and probably would have scolded him if it was human. ‘You don’t say. If the Ni family’s Land of Inheritance wasn’t here, why would it take so much effort?’

After looking away, the big yellow dog continued forward while twitching its nose so no smell could hide from it.

On the other hand, Ou Yangming was still elated when he followed closely behind the dog.

The instant he absorbed the Black Magic Crawler’s flesh and blood to transform them into energy for his own, he discovered something

Not only could the energy from the crawler’s flesh and blood replenish his lost Qi and blood, but it could also recover his mental power.

Yes, mental power.

When Ou Yangming previously used the Devouring ability, he could only replenish and upgrade his mental power through a half-spirit beast. Other than that, no matter how powerful the wild beasts were, they were not beneficial toward his mental power.

That said, the Black Magic Crawler made Ou Yangming feel like he had just encountered another half-spirit beast.

Needless to say, the crawler’s flesh and blood were too little as compared to a half-spirit beast’s. Their sizes were Heaven and Earth apart, and most importantly, the energies contained in their flesh and blood had a huge disparity.

In any case, Ou Yangming found a new replenishment point. As long as he could enter the Chaos Cave to kill Black Magic Crawlers, he could regain Qi, blood, and mental power at the same time.

With that, Ou Yangming hoped that the Black Magic Crawlers were weaker instead.

The big yellow dog stopped once more, and Ou Yangming picked up a strange smell. After feeling startled for a while, Ou Yangming understood that he had not smelled it, but it was the unique ability of the dog’s nose.

Similar to how Ou Yangming could transmit images to the big yellow dog, it shared its ability with him too.

Ou Yangming quickened his pace while observing the area carefully. The Vision +1 attribute’s power was undoubtedly portrayed in great detail in this situation.

Sure enough, three Black Magic Crawlers were lying quietly ahead. The mouthparts on the top of their heads were moving as if they were munching on something, and they did not notice the threats behind them.

Ou Yangming and the big yellow dog looked at each other before pouncing on them at the same time.