Chapter 112: Two-Faced Stone Toad

Su Chen had done many, many experiments.

He had long lost track of how many experiments he had performed in the past fifteen or so years.

Most of these experiments were failures.

Even though they were failures, however, they had their own value.

What he had used on He Houshan was a failed experiment called the Devil Puppet.

He had gotten the idea for the Devil Puppet from another student’s bloodline. This student’s bloodline didn’t let him control organisms that were still alive like Jin Ling’er and Zhou Juanjia, but he could control deceased beings and cause them to come back to life.

Of course, they weren’t really coming back to life; this was just a kind of dummy control technique.

After Su Chen had gotten his hands on that student’s bloodline, he had begun to research whether or not he could develop a similar Origin Skill, but had failed in the end.

The Devil Puppets Su Chen created didn’t recognize friend from foe; they attacked anything that they saw. Because they had no life force, interestingly enough, they were often slightly more powerful dead than they were alive.

When Su Chen had escaped to this area and found the Vampiric Demon Tree, he knew that he could use its core to create a Devil Puppet and had set up a small trap behind him.

The puppet He Houshan had begun to massacre everything in sight. A grim smile appeared on Su Chen’s face as he listened to the miserable shrieks.

He muttered to himself, “This is only the beginning.”

He continued to run deeper into the forest.

Even though the Southern Mountains weren’t large, there were still a few Demonic Beasts inhabiting it.

Su Chen was in the depths of the forest now, searching his surroundings as he ran. He very quickly stumbled upon a suitable target.

The target was a massive toad whose body was as large as a small hill. It was a mid-tier Demonic Beast. Su Chen knew that this toad was called the Two-Faced Stone Toad because the camouflage on its back looked like a massive face. It was an earth-type Demonic Beast and had an affinity for earth-type Origin Energy. It absorbed its energy from the ground, so calling it an earth-eating lifeform wasn’t going too far. It would occasionally eat a few bug-type Demonic Beasts, but it didn’t like eating humans. If it saw a human, it would leave them alone unless they provoked it.

When he saw this Two-Faced Stone Toad, Su Chen’s eyes lit up. A new plan was beginning to take shape in his mind.

He was the inheritor of Ulrich, Mainbrooke, and Patelocke’s Ancient Arcana Techniques, and he possessed quite a bit of knowledge as a result. Even though he had no way of learning everything, there was a lot of things that he knew but never needed to use. Now, it was time for him to show them off.

He swaggered up to the Stone Toad. The Stone Toad didn’t even glance at him and continued to mind its own business and remain asleep.

Su Chen jumped onto the Stone Toad’s back. Because of the Two-Faced Stone Toad consumption of large quantities of earth essence, the skin on its back was rocky. It wouldn’t be able to feel anything even if Su Chen tried to stab it with a blade, let alone jump on top of it.

A number of Air Tentacles sprouted from Su Chen’s body as he stood on top of the toad and wrapped around the nearby trees, using them to cover the Stone Toad’s body. The Stone Toad didn’t notice anything and continued to sleep. Only its sinister head gave away the fact that it was a Demonic Beast due to its skin being made of stone. Once it was covered in trees, its face disappeared, and it was impossible to tell that it was a Two-Faced Stone Toad. People would just think that it was a massive boulder.

Su Chen dug out a hole on the Stone Toad’s back but took care to only dig away the stone skin and avoid injuring the flesh below. He then pulled out a vial of medicine and poured it into the hole. The medicine caused the hole to grow larger and larger, eventually revealing a cavern.

A moment later, Su Chen actually jumped into the cavern and disappeared. It really seemed weird and inexplicable.

The pursuers - two teams composed of a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, two Blood Boiling Realm cultivators, and four Qi Drawing Realm cultivators each - arrived quickly on the scene. The Shorttailed Foxhounds barked like mad. Obviously, they had determined that Su Chen was nearby, but didn’t know exactly where he was.

The Yang Opening Realm cultivator in the lead waved his arms. The people behind him dispersed and began to scan the surroundings.

These people were very cautious. Even though they split up to search, they didn’t stray far from each other, and no one strayed out of each other’s line of sight. If any one of them was attacked, they could respond immediately. They reckoned that organizing themselves like this made it basically impossible for Su Chen to try and do what he did before.

However, things evidently weren’t going to be that simple.

A Qi Drawing Realm cultivator paced around the hill, scanning his surroundings, when unbeknownst to him a pair of hands reached out from the rocks behind him and grabbed him by the neck. The Origin Qi Scholar’s neck snapped instantly, and then with a pull, his body disappeared without a trace.

Another Origin Qi Scholar had just reached the top of the hill and was glancing around when two hands suddenly wrapped around his ankles and jerked downwards. That person disappeared beneath the surface of the ground. However, his reactions were a bit faster, and he was at least able to cry out before disappearing. Everyone heard the yell and ran over to investigate, but they found that the whole place was empty. No trace of that Origin Qi Scholar could be seen.

The expression of the Yang Opening Realm cultivator in the lead sunk. “Li Zhe is gone, and so is Cao Yang.”

“How did we lose people just like that?”

“It must be Su Chen! He’s definitely doing something!”

“How did he do it?”

The people discussed amongst themselves, alarm suddenly rising in their hearts. This Su Chen seemed to appear and disappear without warning. There was little concealment here, yet Su Chen could still somehow hide himself and ambush them. Some people were already beginning to panic, and they said, “Since he’s nearby, we should launch the signal arrow quickly and summon the others to surround the place!”

Quite a few people agreed with this idea, but the other Yang Opening Realm cultivator said, “What are you afraid of? If he doesn’t dare attack us openly, then that means he knows he’s not strong enough to kill us in the open, which is why he is hiding and looking for ways to ambush us. If we call the others over, won’t we just be giving others more opportunities? Don’t forget about the hundred thousand Origin Stone reward!”

When they heard this, everyone froze.

Right, a hundred thousand Origin Stones.

If they called other people over, would they still have a portion for themselves?

Greed was a powerful motivator, but it could also pull people into the abyss.

This greedy flaw was going to lead them to their deaths.

Whoosh!

A wave of intense flames suddenly shot forth, turning into the Shadow Flame Giant. The Shadow Flame Giant wrapped its arms around an Origin Qi Scholar, causing that Origin Qi Scholar to shriek mournfully.

“He’s below the ground!” someone yelled.

Everyone simultaneously attacked the ground beneath them.

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

The fierce of waves of Origin Energy slammed into the rocks on the ground, blasting them into the air and revealing an enigmatic,

“So he dug tunnels here!” the Yang Opening Realm cultivator laughed loudly as he took the lead and jumped in.

Upon entering the cave, the Yang Opening Realm cultivator saw a person’s figure flash in front of him. He immediately guessed that it was Su Chen and hurried to chase after him. However, he quickly discovered that the tunnel layout was strange; the ground underneath was uneven, and it was sometimes constricted and other times quite wide. The ground beneath his feet had strange depressions in it, as if he were stepping on something alive. He didn’t pay it much attention at first, but the further he walked the more he began to realize that something was off.

The Yang Opening Realm cultivator stopped in his tracks and glanced more closely at the ground. He suddenly jabbed his finger downwards, only to find a thick, inky-green liquid oozing out from the ground. The Yang Opening Realm cultivator dabbed some of it on his finger, only to discover that the skin on his finger was beginning to decay.

It’s poison!

This is......

The Yang Opening Realm cultivator opened his eyes wide.

The Origin Qi Scholars following behind him were already growing impatient because of the confusing layout of the tunnels. When the flock of Blood Bats suddenly flew towards them, a few of the Origin Qi Scholars instinctively raised their hands, unleashing a torrent of flames at the bats.

“No!” the Yang Opening Realm cultivator at the front yelled.

It was already too late.

“ROAR!” A pained and enraged howl began to echo through the forest.