Wreath of Lilies, Cauldron of Poison

Collaboration Chapter

The Golden Sword and Sheath Part 3

"A whole 70 percent? Surely you jest," Zheng Jin said, smiling.

Without hesitation, he then swallowed a pill Connie handed to him with one gulp, and to his utter bafflement, he felt his strength return within him. His head couldn't help but shake in disbelief.

"Wh-what in the heavens?" Zheng Jin gulped as he looked at Connie. "Where did you get this stuff?

"Does it matter?" Connie replied with a cheeky grin.

Zheng Jin raised an eyebrow. "Of course it does! That pill just recovered most of my spirit energy in an instant!"

Connie, however, did not reply at all—only resorting to her same, cheeky grin towards him.

It was then that Zheng Jin's opportunistic side won over him once again, and he could not help but ask, "Do you have some more of these?"

His greed for the wondrous pills, however, would remain unsatisfied as the ground shook once again—now more violently as it seemingly trembled under the weight of the sky. The crack in the sky seemed to start to widen.

Dark liquid like the color of old blood poured out of the crack, and a colossal being covered in pulsating membrane fell out of it.

However, ten golden chains binding its ten emaciated arms kept it from falling, suspending it above the ground. Six of the chains had begun to turn black, corroded by some unknown power.

The thing writhed and screamed causing the very air to tremble.

“OOOOOOOONNGGG!!!”

The blackened chains finally gave out and the creature used its free arms to yank the rest of its arms. When it realized that he could not be free from the last chain, it broke off its arms and it fell upon the earth with a wet splotch.

Whatever this place was must be breaking.

Literally.

And that thing that just fell must be the cause.

"We need to move! Now!" Connie exclaimed as she dashed out and led Zheng Jin once again—onto the source of everything that went wrong in the whole place, which was now very near the two of them.

Zheng Jin made no mistake by guessing that they were near. He felt it—the horrible presence of death and decay that he could not seem to place.

He eventually did, however, as after following Connie in her mad dash towards the source of the strange aura, he was now face to face with the one that had been causing it all.

Looking straight down at what seemed to be a deep crater, Zheng Jin admitted—the sight of "it" just sent a chill down his spine.

“OOOOONNNNGGGGG.”

The giant creature ripped off the membrane covering its body and screamed.

Ten arms like the branches of an old, withered tree sprouted out of a white, pregnant female body covered with scabs. Each scab had a row of teeth that opened to make the sound of babies laughing. Its legs, or what were left of them, were short and withered like a babe’s. Its two breasts resembled volcanoes, with green liquid spitting out of them ceaselessly.

The head could only be described as that of a featureless sculpture made by a talentless artist who did not know how to sculpt a woman, with teeth as large as hills and a long, forked tongue that lolled out of its mouth. The tips of it leaked green liquid that ate through anything it touched.

"What in the hells is that...thing?!" Zheng Jin gaped as he looked at Connie, then back to the abomination below.

“Well, I don’t need my lunch anymore then. Thank you very much,” Connie said, barely holding back the urge to vomit. She had never seen something so repulsive to the eye. A bloated half-rotten corpse would look like the fresh body of a kingdom destroying beauty compared to the creature before them.

"By Calisto...What could have possibly given birth to such a freak?" Appalled by the creature, Zheng Jin turned to Connie with a disgusted look. "Do you have any idea of its origins?"

“That is a question I have no answer to,” Connie said, watching as the creature dragged its bulbous body up from the giant crater using its nine arms. Ten if you counted the stub of what used to be one. “This is nothing like I have ever seen. But it is clear that it bade us no good will—JUMP!!”

Zheng Jin abruptly followed her warning and jumped as high as he could along with her. The thing had launched a phlegm that began to eat through the ground where they once stood.

The nine arms anchored into the earth and it used them to slowly turn its body towards them.

“HATEHATEMOTHERSONLOVEMIRRORMIRRORSON....AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

The nine arms elongated, trying to catch both cultivators.

Zheng Jin—still in midair—saw the arms and flickered away just in the nick of time. With a grunt, he then took a stance by heaving the Burning Bloodsword in front of him. Whatever the abomination was, it seemed that it was itching for a fight.

Ignoring the primal fear that urged him to steer clear of the creature, he then looked at Connie who had also managed to get away from the monster's attack. "This fucking creature is out of it!" he shouted. "Let's end this farce and kill this thing!"

“That’s an idea I can get behind!” Connie shouted as she evaded one of the arms and ran up the forearm. The moment she reached what she deemed to be the joint, she gathered her Yin Energy in both arms. Two giant images of snake heads formed behind her and bit into the arm. With a loud yell, she ripped the arm apart.

“Denying the Nine Heavens: Carving Bone, Denying Alms!”

The giant arm fell onto the ground, falling through a chasm that was formed from the breaking earth.

“NINENINENINENINESONMIRROR!"

The eldritch creature's head flailed in pain as it launched a barrage of green liquid from its breasts. All the while the rows of teeth were still laughing, as if laughing at the pain of the monster they were part of.

Watching from the sidelines as Connie dismembered the violent creature, Zheng Jin's awe was interrupted when the green liquid flew through the air towards him, prompting him to flicker out once again—now towards the creature instead of running away. The green liquid splattered harmlessly behind him—corroding the ground in an unbelievable rate.

"Laugh at this you ugly fuck! «Rending Inferno»!"

With a mighty roar, the Burning Bloodsword roared with Zheng Jin—emitting a hue of bright crimson on as he appeared right at the creature's front. Smirking, he brought down the sword with a deafening bang—an arc of scorching hot fire cleaving through the monster and setting it aflame.

"EONNINENINEEONMIRRORSEALLOVE!!!" The creature roared incoherently as it burned, much to Zheng Jin's and Connie's delight.

"How did you like that you—"

Zheng Jin's celebration, however, was cut short as the monster roared once again and put out the flames by spraying the green liquid all over its body. The creature itself appeared to be immune to its self-produced highly-corrosive liquid.

The loss of its limbs or the brief moment it was set aflame seemed to only make it angrier.

Connie spread her arms and brought her hands together in a vigorous manner. From within her hands, a small purple sphere came into being. “#215 Graven Still. Let’s see if your acid is stronger than my poison.”

Graven Still was a poison so acidic in nature that it could melt through iron and steel. She clasped the sphere and let the poison coat her palms.

She evaded the acids while gathering her Yin Energy and clasped both hands together, forming a large blade which she swung towards the creature’s stomach.

The poison did its job and ate through its flesh, enlarging the wound to astounding effect.

However, something happened that made Connie regret her decision and she leapt back with hurried steps.

Before Zheng Jin could follow up Connie's brilliant attack, he watched in utter disbelief as the monster's massive wound caused by the girl's attack healed in a span of a couple of seconds at most—putting the grotesque flesh and bone back together with a sickening crunch.

Faced by such a ridiculous opponent, Zheng Jin could not help but throw a glance at Connie, wondering what path of action to take. It seemed that the girl was stumped by the development as well, as her normally-calm expression turned severe in just that instant.

It was after seeing the frown on Connie's face that Zheng Jin could tell…

They were in a very dangerous situation—one that would cost them their very lives if ever they are caught off guard by the seemingly-indestructible monster before them.