Chapter 10: Sunset Beast Calamity

  It was a fragment of lost scattered memories, deeply rooted in the depths of the soul fire at sunset for endless years.

  After reading this passage of memories, Jiǔ thought silently:

  "It turned out that the giant beast's remains were once one of the four great fierce beasts of heaven and earth, Qiong Qi. The sunset was because it absorbed the last bit of essence from Qiong Qi's remains, hence possessing many divine and mysterious powers."

  But then I thought again:

  "Guī Qí was the king of ferocious beasts in ancient times, also known as the Calamity Beast. No wonder Xiǎo Yáng is so intimidating and powerful, it turns out to be a Guī Qí that's still evolving."

  Knowing that this was the remains of the king of ferocious beasts, Zhu Jiu was unwilling to leave easily. At this time, with the sunset by his side, he had nothing to fear and began to wander in the cave of bones. The sunset followed silently behind him.

  Jiu and Xi Yang could only travel to places that were already familiar to Xi Yang, but even then, they found nothing. Many paths were blocked by hard bones that neither of them could break through.

  Zhu Jiu was somewhat disappointed and had to bring the sunset back along the original road. When passing through the bottom of the Blood River again, Zhu Jiu's restless factor in his heart erupted, hoping that there would be some strange object at the bottom of the river, so he could make a big profit after capturing the sunset for the first time.

  Unfortunately, everything went smoothly and they returned to the Blood River Bank without any issues. Zhu Jiu looked back at the vast Blood River, and the strange wreckage should have some secrets hidden within, but unfortunately, there was no ability to delve deeper, so it would have to be said later.

  The demon corpse was emotionless, the setting sun didn't feel sentimental about leaving its old nest, it followed Zhu Jiu's back, without looking back, and disappeared over a small hill, vanishing at the Blood River bank.

  This world has no obvious change in daylight, forever a dark gray sky and land, unchanging.

  Zhu Jiu's body needed rest, with the sunset by his side, in this region where there were almost no dangers to speak of, he found a relatively high and dry small hill to rest on, looking at the tireless and loyal sunset, Zhu Jiu leaned against the rock and closed his eyes contentedly.

  In his sleep, he suddenly felt the abnormal fluctuation of the sea of consciousness, and Zhu Jiu woke up abruptly. He opened his eyes to find that Xia Qiuzi was fighting a demon corpse under the small hill where the sunset was setting.

  This unknown, withered corpse appeared at some point, a dark brown mummy-like creature with dry skin, its empty eye sockets also flashing with deep red soul fire, for some reason intruding into the sunset domain that all other crimson souls avoided.

  This mummy's combat method is extremely unusual, it's the first time Zuo Ji has seen it. Every time its lips open and close, a stream of black fog emerges from its mouth, as if it's some kind of corpse poison or curse. When it falls to the ground, it also produces a strong corrosive effect.

  Unfortunately, these methods sprayed on the sunset had no effect. The sunset's body was covered in a soft green glow of demonic bones, and the black fog couldn't even get close. Every time it approached the sunset's skeleton, it would slip away and disperse, having no lethal effect on the sunset at all.

  The battle ended in just one formal strike of the setting sun, and as the setting sun absorbed the opponent's soul fire with its big head, Zhu Jiu suddenly heard a terrified scream coming from 100 meters away, which was a human cry.

  Jiǔ quickly ran down the small hill, with the sunset closely following behind him.

  The place where the scream came from was a ditch about 100 meters away, and there was a huge stone at the top of the ditch that blocked it, which was very hidden.

  When Jiǔ arrived in a hurry, he saw a pale-faced young man squatting in the ditch, who seemed to have some impression and was also one of the young men who took the test with him.

  Jiǔ didn't need to think about it and understood the reason why the young man was here, coldly smiling:

  "You saw me resting on the small hilltop, and the sect's mission statement encouraged slaughter, so you wanted to order your demon corpse to ambush me. Huh! Now that your demon corpse is dead, how does it feel to have your soul retaliated?"

  Seeing the young man's pale face and fearful expression, as if he had already deeply regretted it, Zhu Jiu said:

  "Do you know why I dared to sleep openly in the highest place nearby?"

  The young man's face turned even paler, his eyes filled with a pleading gaze, and Zhu Jiu smiled lightly in response:

  "I also want to try killing someone, but since they don't offend me, I wouldn't dare kill them casually. So I'll just use a small trick to see who's so blind and dares to provoke me, heh heh!"

  The last faint smile of Jiǔ was heard by the young man's ears, and it was undoubtedly evil, finally speaking out in a sorrowful plea:

  "Spare me, don't kill me. I just want to survive too. Leave me alive and I can serve you in the future. As a new member of the sect, you'll definitely need someone to run errands for you."

  Jiu Leng's icy smile grew wider as he thought to himself: Having come from the Information Explosion Era of his past life, he understood human nature's weaknesses all too well.

  "I was reborn, always lamenting that I was born in the wrong era and couldn't do as I pleased. Now that I've been given this opportunity, I must make the most of it and live without fear. Are you going to hold a grudge against me from behind?"

  In the sea of consciousness, a thought stirred, and the setting sun standing beside him suddenly pounced out, its front paw swiping, sending the young man's head flying into the air, his eyes still filled with shock, as if he couldn't believe he had died just like that.

  Jiu looked at the first human he had killed in two lifetimes, without any abnormality or discomfort, and muttered to himself:

  "In my past life, I followed Grandfather in handling many animal corpses. It was inevitable that evil thoughts would occasionally flash through my mind, wanting to kill people. Unfortunately, I never tried it before. It turns out that killing someone feels like this, and there's nothing particularly unusual about it. The assessment introduction said that human brain marrow can increase the intelligence of a demon corpse, while heart blood can increase the toughness of a demon corpse's body. Should I let Xiyang refine this guy's corpse?"

  Before the ninth thought was finished, the setting sun had already rushed to the side of the young man's corpse. The soul fire in his skull was very strong and instantly wrapped around the young man's head, burning and refining it.

  Before long, the parts of the corpse that were beneficial to Xi Yang were refined clean, leaving behind only a withered and shriveled up corpse.

  Nine Wordless smiled and suddenly received a warning from the setting sun in his consciousness, turned his head to a raised position on the ground not far away and shouted:

  "If you don't come out now, I'll take it as a sneak attack and start attacking."

  The ground which was originally quiet suddenly produced a sound and hastily said:

  "Wait, wait, I didn't mean anything bad."

  As soon as the words fell, the grayish-brown earth slowly crawled, and the color of the earth changed, revealing a short and chubby boy who was just crawling out of the ground.

  As soon as this short and stout young man appeared, he hastily approached Zhu Jiu a few steps and said with a flattering tone:

  "I know you're Zhu Jiu, the first place in the second round of the Sea of Consciousness Sensing Assessment. I have a lot of admiration for you. I didn't expect your demon corpse to be so powerful too. It's really terrifying, what kind is it?"

  He even gave a thumbs up, gesturing to Zhu Jiu, and then looked at the sunset beside Zhu Jiu with envy. This guy didn't know that Zhu Jiu was thinking about whether or not to kill this little fatty right now. If he knew, it's unknown if he would have the courage to continue laughing.

  Staring blankly at this short and chubby young man, Zhu Jiu finally decided to let him off, smiling and saying:

  "My demonic corpse is a evolving calamity beast called Sunset. Your hidden ability isn't bad either, is it the special divine power possessed by the demonic corpse you've subdued?"

  The little fatty immediately said with a friendly attitude:

  "Yes, I'm timid, so I discovered that this demon corpse has the ability to hide, and I've taken it in by all means. Don't laugh at me, brother."

  While speaking, he reached behind his back with a reverse hand and took out a piece of grayish-colored dry tree bark the size of half a person and showed it to Zhu Jiu.

  Jiu glanced at this unique plant demon corpse and found that the surface color of this withered tree bark-like demon corpse was constantly changing, and said faintly:

  "Very good skills."

  He finished speaking and turned to leave, with a little fatty hastily chasing after him two steps, just as he was about to speak, Zhu Jiu had already said:

  "Come with me and I'll kill you."

  The little fatty stood still on the spot, and indeed didn't dare to follow up. It wasn't until Zhu Jiu gradually walked far away that he whispered:

  "What's all the fuss about? Isn't it just finding a particularly special corpse?"

  He looked down at the youth's charred remains on the ground, purified by the sunset flames, and said softly:

  "This dead ghost's cursed corpse is extremely powerful, yet it was killed with one hit. How can Jiu's corpse be so strong? I don't even know what kind of disaster beast it is! It's really formidable!"