Chapter 1198 – The Mysterious Monster

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True Martial Great World – dreamland space –

3000 miles southwest of True Martial City, there was a long and winding mountain range called the Demon Sealing Ridge. On Demon Sealing Ridge, the trees towered high into the skies and vicious beasts roamed everywhere. In the real world, the Demon Sealing Ridge was a training ground of normal Divine Sea powerhouses. But in the dreamland space, Demon Sealing Ridge became dozens of times more dangerous. If a normal Divine Sea powerhouse was here then they would die instantly. Even a weak Divine Transformation powerhouse would find their life threatened.

Thus, in this dreamland space, those that came to adventure here were the top 200 ranked masters of the entire True Martial Great World.

Even so, there were still deaths.

Rumble rumble rumble rumble!

A terrifying explosion sounded through the mountains with countless shock waves surging outwards. A group of 10 people were sent soaring backwards, tossed into the air like a handful of straw.

In such an intense explosion, a hideous-looking nightmare beast with its entire body covered with spikes slowly fell to the ground, utterly dead.

This sort of violent hunting scene was a common occurrence on Demon Sealing Ridge. Those people that were capable of killing these vicious nightmare beasts were usually top 100 ranked masters of their great world.

“Huh? What’s this?”

After the martial artists slayed the vicious beast, they discovered that there was a palm-sized purple crystal left behind after the vicious beast’s body disappeared. If one looked carefully, they could see something sealed within the crystal that looked like a tiny green sword. It rushed about within the purple crystal, seeming as if it would break out at any moment.

The martial artists were all shocked. Although they had killed countless nightmare beasts, this was the first time they had seen something like this.

A martial artist hesitated and then carefully picked up the purple crystal. An incomparably cold feeling seemed to dig through his body, sinking through his flesh and blood and even permeating through his soul. He felt as if his entire body was filled with a faintly spiritual feeling, and Laws that he found hard to understand in the past were slowly being perceived…

This sort of dim enlightenment was like a mortal being confounded by a problem, and then finally having a dream and waking up with a blurry solution.

This martial artist suddenly had the strange desire to directly swallow down this purple crystal. This was because he could feel a faint wisdom coming from this purple crystal, and had a premonition that he would obtain great benefits after eating it.

However, he restrained his thoughts and decided to study it first. For some reason, he believed that this purple crystal was condensed with energy completely different from the energy that formed their weapons and clothes. Although all of that was virtual goods that belonged to this dreamland world, this purple crystal gave off an incomparably genuine feeling, as if it were a treasure that belonged in the real world. These fantastical thoughts were something he felt from the moment he touched the purple crystal.

“Ba Dao, what is that?”

The several surrounding martial artists casually asked. Although they felt that this purple crystal was quite extraordinary, they didn’t care too much. After all, this was dreamland space and not the real world. If this was the real world, there was a possibility that it would be an extremely precious heavenly treasure. If so, they would study it, and then divide it equally after estimating its value. And even then, if it was far more precious than what they imagined, they might even fight to the death for it.

But in this dreamland space, all treasures were nothing but dreams that would vanish once they awakened, without leaving a single trace behind. Thus, they didn’t care about this purple crystal too much. Then again, it might not be anything too valuable anyways.

“Nothing. I think it’s just some strange treasure that this nightmare beast swallowed before. I think it’s a bit interesting so I’m going to keep it.”

The martial artist called Ba Dao said as he indifferently tossed the purple crystal into his spatial ring.

Most of his companions didn’t care too much, but there were one or two people that frowned. They felt that Ba Dao’s explanation was a bit too forced. A strange object that the nightmare beast swallowed? Was there something like that?

Moreover, Ba Dao’s words were clearly meant to play down this matter even as he calmly took the purple crystal for himself.

“I think… you should wait a minute.”

Someone suddenly said.

Ba Dao felt his heart drop. He maintained his composure and asked as if he didn’t care too much, “What is it?”

The person who spoke hesitated for a moment, then said, “Friend, things that are found should be examined by everyone here so that we can check if there is any danger… you should know that in this dreamland space, there are countless dangers everywhere. If you take something with you that you find like that, it might be dangerous. It might even be a powerful baby nightmare beast in egg form. If so, then we’ll be in danger!”

This person’s words were quite thoughtful. He didn’t immediately say words that cast a suspicious light on Ba Dao for stealing a treasure, but said something reasonable that no one would be able to reject.

These nightmare beasts were extremely strange existences. No one knew just what they were like before they were born. This purple crystal was bizarre, and even seemed as if there was some living creature sealed within it. There was the possibility that this was the larval form of a nightmare beast.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“That sounds fine. Ba Dao, take out that crystal so that we can take a look. It’s better to be safe than sorry.” Someone echoed.

Ba Dao awkwardly smiled, slowly tracing his spatial ring. He knew that if he didn’t take it out, he would definitely fall under suspicions.

In that moment, he hesitated in his heart. Was it better to just flee from here? But then again, perhaps everything he felt before was nothing but a dream. After all, this sort of matter was itself unbelievable.

“If I made a mistake or thought too much of it then I would be a fool, but… that brief enlightenment on the Laws I felt was indeed real. Just what is this thing?”

Ba Dao thought as he spoke. His movements in taking out the purple crystal were very slow.

“If it really is some wonderful treasure, then being killed in this dreamland space isn’t a problem. At worst I’ll lose some points and my ranking will fall, but I can still catch up. But, before these preliminaries started, Empyrean Vast Universe said that if a participant was killed, they would lose 60% of their virtual treasures. Would this thing disappear? What should I do? Should I make a desperate bet?”

Ba Dao thought. His palms were wet with sweat. His fingers had already touched on his spatial ring for two breaths of time. As this time grew, even some of Ba Dao’s friends felt that something was wrong. In particular, those two people who were suspicious at the start. Their thoughts became grim and they clenched the weapons in their hands.

The atmosphere became increasingly tense. At this moment, a sharp howl suddenly washed over everyone. At the first moment it was in the far off distance, but in just an instant it was right near their ears!

Ba Dao felt his back turn cold as an icy chill thrust into his heart. This freezing killing intent nearly caused his soul to rupture.

Danger!

Ba Dao was greatly shocked. He wanted to throw himself forwards but… it was already too late!

He felt his entire body turn cold as the world became dark around him. His mind blurred and his consciousness rapidly faded as he lost all his senses.

As for his companions, they only saw a brief red light flash in front of them as Ba Dao’s body was completely ripped apart!

“How did he die!? Who killed him!?”

No one had been able to clearly see what happened. They were all stunned. They tightly gripped their weapons and maintained full vigilance of their surroundings.

Then, they discovered that Ba Dao’s spatial ring was crushed by that red shadow just now. As that spatial ring burst apart, nearly everything there was left intact – it was only the purple crystal that vanished!

“Everyone be careful! Keep your backs to each other! We have run into some master, but do not panic, otherwise we will die even faster!”

The leader of the several martial artists shouted out, trying to stabilize the morale of those still standing.

However, his efforts were useless. The disparity was far too great!

As the several martial artists moved closer to each other, that red light flashed once more. Two more people had their corpses split apart as their heads flew into the air. Blood erupted like a fountain from their falling corpses!

“Big Brother!”

Everyone felt an extreme fear rising in their minds. Although this was only a dreamland space, they still felt an immense pressure in the face of such an abnormal opponent!

“Run away!”

The leader crazily shouted. But, he realized that the decision of running away was also meaningless. Everyone here would die without a doubt!

Pu! Pu!

“Ahhhhhh!”

In the instant when the leader turned to flee, he heard the screams of those behind him. He could hear the muffled thumps of their bodies hitting the ground and also the bubbling sound of their blood gushing out from their bodies.

“They all died?”

This thought flashed through the team leader’s mind before he felt his head suddenly lighten. The world spun around him as he saw his headless body from a distance. Then, his body was grasped by an incomparably sharp red-furred claw.

As soon as the claw grasped his body, an unbelievable sight occurred. As his world spun, he could see that his headless corpse suddenly shrank to the size of a tiny ball. His flesh and blood essence, his bones, his organs, everything was sucked away in an instant, leaving nothing behind but his skin and clothes falling to the ground.

He widened his eyes as far as he could, trying to search for the master of that red claw as his vision blurred even more, but all he could see was a faint outline. This figure was as tall as a person and also had a humanoid shape, walking tall on two feet just like a person. And in its claws, it had the purple crystal that Ba Dao had found, seeming as if it would swallow it at any moment.

However, before this martial artist could make out whether this monster was a human or a beast, because of the angle of his spinning head, all he could see was the sky and ground.

“Just… what… is that…”

This was the martial artist’s last thought before his head fell to the ground with a bloody plop.

“Roar! Roar! Roar! Awooo!”

That sharp howl resounded in the world once more, echoing throughout Demon Sealing Ridge as it became further and further away.

This brief battle on Demon Sealing Ridge was not noticed by anyone. This was simply because Demon Sealing Ridge was far too large. Even if that howl was heard by others, it still wouldn’t arouse their suspicion. After all, there were countless roars and howls that filled Demon Sealing Ridge every second of every day.

But slowly, over time, several masters began dying in rapid succession. These masters who died were all top 100 ranked masters of a great world, all of them ruthless and cunning individuals!

And several days later, this news finally spread out!

This was because those people that died were resurrected a day later. For various reasons, they didn’t disclose news of Demon Sealing Ridge’s monster at the start. But, as more and more people died, they were no longer able to conceal what happened.

Everyone was now aware that a red-furred monster had appeared at Demon Sealing Ridge, a bloodthirsty beast with unbelievable strength and speed. Of those that met it, no one had ever managed to survive. Moreover, they couldn’t even confirm whether this red-furred monster was a participant or a vicious beast.