Chapter 1280: Navel Mother

“So this is what you look like. No wonder you wrap yourself inside a pretty-looking shell.”

Ye Qing looked Ancestor Red Cloud up and down before scoffing, “If I were you, I would hide myself in shame as well.”

“Why must you ruin my shell? Why must you reveal my true appearance?”

Ancestor Red Cloud was also watching Ye Qing, grinning. As he spoke, the smelly red flesh buds lined across both sides of his oral cavity and tongue shook at the same time. He looked terribly eerie to say the last.

“Uwah... uwah...”

Behind him, the Nine Sons Mother Spider was glaring at Ye Qing and making a series of strange noises. She looked like she wanted to devour Ye Qing this instant.

Ancestor Red Cloud’s head turned ninety degrees to look directly at Nine Sons Mother Spider. Then, he said in a gentle voice, “Calm down, dear. I promise I’ll kill him and take revenge for you as soon as possible!”

The Nine Sons Mother Spider finally stopped screeching, though her eyes were still overflowing with hatred.

After calming down the Nine Sons Mother Spider, Ancestor Red Cloud turned back and asked a question, “When did you notice?”

“From the beginning. Your aura is so yin and evil that it’s rather impossible not to notice.”

Ye Qing replied indifferently, “Considering how long you’ve lived, you must have killed a lot of people.”

“Hahaha! Sure. It’s their honor to be able to die in my hands and become my nutrients.”

Ancestor Red Cloud licked his lips as he watched Ye Qing greedily. “And you will soon join them. Do you know how nice you smell? I just can’t control myself any longer.”

Ancestor Red Cloud let out a hideous laugh. The next moment, every umbilical cord shrouded in yin qi surged toward Ye Qing.

The front end of the umbilical cords looked like a snake’s mouth. There were barbed fangs inside them.

Even worse, weeping Spider Infants crawled out of the mouths and pounced toward Ye Qing as the umbilical cords attacked.

“I shiver to think how many infants you’ve murdered. You are lesser than pigs and dogs.”

Obviously, but the Spider Infants could not have been born naturally. Ancestor Red Cloud must have used some sort of secret art to create an army of them. As for where his raw materials came from... he did not even need to think to know the answer.

Ye Qing’s bloodthirst doubled in intensity, and he did not hide it from his opponent.

Ye Qing threw a punch. Shining brightly like the sun, profound light washed over the Spider Infants and the umbilical cords, annihilating the former and igniting the latter instantly.

It wasn’t a complete success though. Pockets of evil qi gushed out of the umbilical cords and temporarily kept both the profound light and the flames at bay.

The next moment, the umbilical cords—thick like pythons and innumerable like vines—pounced toward Ye Qing with their open jaws or swung at him like whips.

Disdain colored Ye Qing’s expression as his profound light split into two colors. Black and white, yin and yang. Nothing could touch him when yin and yang cycled together in harmony.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Despite their numbers, the umbilical cords either slid harmlessly past him, slammed into each other, or became entangled when came within one meter of Ye Qing. Not a single one was able to find purchase.

Not only that, Ye Qing was strolling toward Ancestor Red Cloud confidently as if he wasn’t perturbed about the ensuing assault at all.

“Uwah!”

The Nine Sons Mother Spider let out a loud wail when she saw this.

The next moment, cries of shock and horror broke throughout the Unbounded Platform.

“My stomach! Ahhh!”

“My stomach!”

Why were some of the crowd screaming? Because their stomachs were swelling uncontrollably. They looked like women carrying a ten-months-old pregnancy in just the blink of an eye.

When the swelling reached a critical point, their bellies split apart, and a Spider Infant crawled out into the open.

This was not the end, however. Oh no, it was just the beginning. Just three breaths after the Spider Infants emerged, their bellies swelled up again and produced yet another Spider Infant. It was endless.

What really terrified the victims were the fact that their qi, essence and spirit declined sharply for every Spider Infant that exited their bellies. A couple more “births” like these, and they would die.

But forget stopping their condition, they couldn’t even slow it.

Their only hope now was for Ye Qing to kill Ancestor Red Cloud before they were sucked dry by the Spider Infants they were giving birth to.

It was a pitiful, humbling hope.

Suddenly, they thought that they probably shouldn’t have attended this so-called heroes’ arena. They just weren’t strong enough—not even to be spectators.

When gods fight, mortals suffer. The saying described their current situation perfectly.

In any case, an army of Spider Infants were born in just the blink of an eye. There were layers upon layers of them like waves.

Not only that, Ancestor Red Cloud opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of black flame.

As soon as the flame left his mouth, it instantly spread out and engulfed all of the Spider Infants and umbilical cords.

The black flame did not weaken or damage them. On the contrary, it strengthened them.

Ye Qing’s Yin Yang Qi was continuously destroying the Spider Infants and pushing the umbilical cords away from him, but more Spider Infants were being born from the black flames. As a result, their numbers were actually increasing instead of decreasing.

Not only that, the black flames were growing bigger and stronger. They seemed to be manifesting some sort of terrifying, anomalous entity as well.

At first glance, the entity looked like a squid with enough tentacles to cover the entire sky. However, a closer look would reveal that the tentacles were really gigantic umbilical cords. When they shook, they created this terrifying, rhythmic fog that stirred countless people’s mind and soul.

At the center of the umbilical cords was a giant head. The face was that of a middle-aged woman.

The woman looked like she was in her forties. She had a kind, benevolent face, and her eyes seemed to be overflowing with acceptance and love. She was smiling indulgently at the crowd like a mother looking at her ten-month-old baby.

This would have been a beautiful, hopeful scene if not for the fact that the head was just a head, and it was surrounded by countless umbilical cords. At its current state, it was simply evil and spine-chilling.

“Umbilical Mother! It’s the Umbilical Mother!”

The Umbilical Mother was an Ancient-class Stranger. The mother of the Spider Infants, she enjoyed killing pregnant women, eating their umbilical cords, and stealing their infants away. Anyone who saw the Umbilical Mother would become pregnant, give birth to Spider Infants, and turn into her worshiper regardless of their age, gender, or consent.

A worshiper of the Umbilical Mother also gained the power to create and control Spider Infants. They could also extend their own lifespan using the infants’.

Because of this, some villains—especially those who were nearing the end of their lifespan—would secretly worship the Umbilical Mother to change their fate.

At this point, there was no doubt that Ancestor Red Cloud was a worshiper of the Umbilical Mother. This was the truth behind his longevity.

Since the Umbilical Mother was an evil creature, her worshipers were naturally evil as well. Even those who were good at the beginning would grow twisted and irredeemable over time. Therefore, they were loathed by all of

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and killed on sight.

In any case, the Umbilical Mother was why Ancestor Red Cloud had transformed into this monstrosity.

One must not look at the Umbilical Mother or risk being corrupted and forcefully transformed into her worshiper.

The Umbilical Mother in the sky wasn’t the real Umbilical Mother though. It was just a shadow of her. Still, it was enough to corrupt almost everyone not just on the Unbounded Platform, but the entire East Radiance Mountain.

Speaking of which, the light in the eyes of the corrupted were slowly vanishing. Their expressions were growing increasingly devoted and obsessed as well.

The stronger warriors were still maintaining their consciousness, but they could do nothing to isolate or slow down the Umbilical Mother’s influence. Because of this, their stomachs were growing bigger as well.

If a Spider Infant was born from their bellies, then they would fully transform into the Umbilical Mother’s worshipers.