But the humanoid shadow's abilities don't stop there. It survives by constantly devouring the essence of living beings, and some of its methods have been lost to history. However, everyone who knows the origins of this humanoid shadow never lets their guard down when facing it, as no one knows what kind of attack it will launch next.
However, this humanoid shadow has a major flaw: it must rely on an extremely powerful creature to survive. It doesn't depend on the creature's essence or flesh, but rather on the creature's body—for shelter.
Although the humanoid shadow can conceal itself in the darkness, it can only survive within strong, vibrant flesh. Typically, it has a symbiotic relationship with the creature it depends on. Or perhaps "symbiotic" isn't quite accurate; rather, the humanoid shadow cleanses the creature's blood vessels of blockages and other life-threatening substances, while the powerful creature consumes a portion of its food to replenish the humanoid shadow's strength.
Only by relying on companions can a shadowy figure grow into a humanoid form. At this point, it becomes unrestricted by its internal or external form; as long as it doesn't stray more than a mile from a living being, anywhere becomes its attack range. A shadowy figure without companions will slowly dissipate into the world. (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it on Q. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
Chapter 10: Breakthrough from Within
But shouldn't these humanoid shadowy figures have disappeared long ago? Why are they still here?
Xue Tuan was filled with confusion, but she didn't forget to tell Feng Fei all the information she had remembered, hoping to provide Feng Fei with some help.
Upon receiving the news from Xue Tuan, Feng Fei was startled, not expecting that his opponent would be of such great power. However, upon further reflection, he realized that this was no longer the chaotic era where treasures were plentiful and opportunities were readily available. Even though there were many powerful creatures, compared to the beings of that ancient time, they were probably inferior even to the more primitive beings, who could almost be called ants.
Even so, Feng Fei did not easily let her guard down. Knowing where her opponent came from made it easier for her to come up with a solution to her current predicament.
Since those humanoid shadows quickly dissipate after being separated from the parasite, let's start from that point!
Previously, they were outside the Serpent-Tailed Fish-Headed Monster, and even with all their efforts, they couldn't confront it head-on. Now, by chance, they've entered the monster's interior. Although it's somewhat disgusting, they're undeniably facing a completely new situation. Often, breaking out from the inside is easier than launching a direct attack from the outside.
Feng Fei's mind was filled with countless thoughts, but her hands moved swiftly. She called out "Snowball" and, before the humanoid black shadow had fully taken shape, she appeared and quickly shot towards the Snowball's location.
When Xue Tuan heard Feng Fei's call, she knew what Feng Fei wanted to do. As Feng Fei flew toward her, she intertwined her hands, and the shimmering water light from her fingertips floated onto the light screen formed by the tortoise shell.
The light screen flickered for a moment, but did not dissipate. When Feng Fei approached, it allowed him to enter, and then returned to its original state.
"Snowball, listen to me now. According to you, this humanoid shadow is something called a Blood Shadow. But it's not invincible. Here's what we'll do. You'll lie on my back and extend the protective range of the tortoise shell to my front. Actually, no, don't extend it to my front. Just watch out for the Blood Shadow's attacks. I'm going to go all out on the snake-tailed fish-headed monster. You'll defend when the Blood Shadow attacks, okay?"
Feng Fei finished speaking very quickly, without even waiting to see Xue Tuan's reaction. She quickly took out a porcelain bottle, poured out a Yuanling Pill, and placed it in Xue Tuan's small hand: "Take this bottle. Don't waste your spiritual power. When you feel that my spiritual power is half depleted, pour out a Yuanling Pill and feed it to me. If your spiritual power can't keep up, remember to take one too. We need to deal with the snake-tailed fish-headed monster quickly."
Xue Tuan nodded repeatedly, quickly poured out a Yuanling Pill and put it in his mouth, then stuffed the porcelain bottle into his clothes.
As Xuetuan climbed onto Fengfei's back, she exchanged a glance with him. The next moment, the two of them moved simultaneously.
Feng Fei swiftly stood up, wielding the snake bone whip in his left hand. He quickly struck a protruding fleshy wall on his left, while his right hand gripped the golden sword, slashing at the fleshy wall before the blood shadow could fully form. At the same time, Xue Tuan pressed a rune onto the tortoise shell with her right hand. The tortoise shell instantly contracted, then expanded to almost the size of Feng Fei's body. As Feng Fei straightened up, the tortoise shell stood upright, its shimmering, moist light gently enveloping him without hindering his movements.
Although Feng Fei was surprised, he was more impressed. With such a highly mobile defensive measure, the upcoming operation would undoubtedly be much smoother and safer.
With one burst of energy, their momentum was like that of a tiger.
Feng Fei looked at the blood-red shadow that kept flying and swirling around her, and found it somewhat amusing, but her movements did not stop at all. Instead, they became even faster and more ruthless than before.
Blood Shadow was furious when it saw Feng Fei and Xue Tuan begin to act, but it was powerless to do anything. Blood Shadow was indeed foolish, but there was nothing it could do. The current Blood Shadow was far superior to the formidable Blood Shadows of ancient times, who were all cunning and shrewd. However, due to the limitations of the current environment, the Blood Shadow now possessed the intelligence of a three-year-old child. Therefore, when provoked by Feng Fei, it instinctively wanted to unleash its strongest attack, forgetting that its prior preparations were extremely time-consuming and energy-draining.
For this reason, Blood Shadow could only stand there and watch as Feng Fei continuously inflicted wounds on the snake-tailed fish-headed monster from the inside.
When the snake-tailed fish-headed monster was attacked by Feng Fei's first sword, its soft flesh was immediately torn open with a huge gash. Strands of blood and flesh shot out along the golden sword that Feng Fei had slashed out, hitting the light screen of the tortoise shell and slowly dripping into the stomach contents mixed with gastric juice below.
After suffering this heavy blow, the snake-tailed fish-headed monster convulsed and rolled violently.
Anyone who has ever experienced stomach pain can imagine what it feels like to have a stomach injury. This kind of pain is similar to that of any living being, and may even be a few times more intense.
Feng Fei broke out in a cold sweat when he thought of the stomach pain he had caused by his poor eating habits in his previous life in the Celestial Empire, but then a bad idea popped into his mind.
Feng Fei subtly flinched, and the snake-bone whip lashed out at a fleshy protrusion below. As he fell, Feng Fei channeled his spiritual power into the outside of the golden sword and thrust it fiercely into the stomach contents, which contained a large amount of gastric juice.
Suppressing his nausea, Feng Fei exerted force with his right hand, and the golden sword lifted up a large piece of stomach contents containing gastric juices.
As Feng Fei had hoped, most of the stomach contents fell directly into the snake-tailed fish-headed monster's wounds.
Suddenly, a sizzling, corrosive sound reached his ears. Feng Fei couldn't help but look over and saw wisps of white smoke rising from the wound stained with stomach contents. In an instant, much of the torn flesh was completely corroded away.
Feng Fei was overjoyed to see that the method had indeed worked, and the joy in his heart forcibly suppressed his nausea.
At this moment, Feng Fei no longer felt that this was a disgusting act; on the contrary, he felt a sense of eagerness to try it.
The blood-red figure on the meat platform grew increasingly solid, but it was still just one step short, so it remained stuck in place, endlessly spinning. Its face became more and more ferocious, and the roars it emitted grew increasingly vicious, yet it simply couldn't take another step forward.
Feng Fei, seeing this, was even more delighted, and at that moment, a mischievous idea popped into his head. (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
Chapter Eleven: Refutation
"Hehe," Feng Fei chuckled softly, then suddenly made a face at Xue Ying, sticking out his tongue and yelling, "Ya ya ya, serves you right for being so smug! Humph!"
As the saying goes, excessive joy can lead to sorrow.
This ironclad rule also unsurprisingly applied to Feng Fei.
Perhaps he was too complacent and was so engrossed in making faces that Feng Fei's left hand slipped, and he almost lost his grip on the snake bone whip.
The snake-tailed fish-headed monster was already churning in the pool due to its injuries and pain, which made the stomach space where Feng Fei and the others were located extremely unstable.
The point where the snake bone whip was in contact with the flesh wall loosened during these shaking, and Feng Fei's body involuntarily fell downwards.
Feng Fei's heart sank, and he hurriedly gripped the snake bone whip again.
The downward trend remained unchanged, but Feng Fei could not find a suitable point to control his body.
The Blood Shadow, who was frozen in place, unable to move and furious, burst into laughter without any restraint when he saw this scene. His sharp laughter echoed throughout the space and muffledly entered Feng Fei's ears, making Feng Fei feel quite suffocated.
However, Feng Fei quickly calmed himself down and hurried to find a suitable place to stay.
Suddenly, Feng Fei's gaze sharpened. There was a relatively open area below, near the stomach contents.
Without hesitation, Feng Fei leaped towards that place with Xue Tuan. Xue Ying seemed not to have expected Feng Fei to find a way to escape so quickly, and his sharp laughter was suddenly stuck in his throat, making a series of "crackling" sounds.
With her feet firmly on the ground, Feng Fei sharply scanned the meat platform, on guard against any sudden attack.
Upon scanning the area, Feng Fei realized that this was the place where she had previously discovered the black seal.
Thinking of this, Feng Fei felt an urge to take out the black seal and examine it closely. However, the roar of the blood-red shadow on it made Feng Fei realize that now was definitely not the right time.
Forcibly suppressing the urge in his heart, Feng Fei continued to observe his surroundings.
The stomach contents that had initially risen due to the snake-tailed fish-headed monster's feeding had now slowly receded. Furthermore, because the snake-tailed fish-headed monster had been injured from within by Feng Fei, and was desperately trying to heal its wounds, it accelerated its digestion and absorption of food.
In no time, the stomach contents that were supposed to fill the entire stomach were reduced to just the small portion deep inside.
The empty space was filled with strange power, a large portion of which was absorbed by the snake-tailed fish-headed monster. The other portion was absorbed by the blood shadow that was taking shape.
The Blood Shadow received a boost from this power, and its condensation speed increased dramatically.
In a short while, the previously shaky figure became solid, the limbs became distinct, and even the ten fingers could be clearly seen.
Upon seeing Xueying's appearance, Fengfei secretly exclaimed that things were going badly.
A sense of nervousness crept into my heart. But I didn't know what to do.
When he gets nervous, Fengfei's palms become sweaty.
But at this moment, she had no way out. She could only face it head-on and take it on.
After swallowing a Yuanling Pill, the spiritual energy within his body circulated wildly. During this time, due to the constant consumption and replenishment, Feng Fei's spiritual energy actually increased to the twelfth level of the Acquired Realm. If he found a suitable opportunity, or obtained some rare and precious herbs to consume, breaking through would be a matter of minutes. However, this was an extremely difficult thing to achieve at present.
If Feng Fei's strength could reach the Acquired Realm at this moment, she would have a much better chance of winning the battle against Xue Ying. However, her current strength is only at the twelfth level of the Acquired Realm, so her only options are to either take the blow head-on or outsmart her.
If the goal is to outmaneuver the enemy, the best opportunity would be when the Blood Shadow had already taken shape. After the Blood Shadow successfully takes shape, its speed will be more than ten times faster than before, and its attack power will increase by at least three times.
Thinking of this, Feng Fei felt a headache coming on.
But before she could think of a way to deal with it, Blood Shadow roared and attacked from above.
At this moment, the trajectory of the blood shadow was completely invisible. Even when Feng Fei channeled his spiritual power into his eyes, he could only make out a very dim and unclear shadow.
Just as Blood Shadow's first attack was about to arrive, Feng Fei quickly hugged Xue Tuan into his arms, while Gui Jia took the opportunity to block in front of Feng Fei and Xue Tuan.
Feng Fei channeled his spiritual power into the tortoise shell, and the shell, which had previously only shimmered with a moist, watery sheen, suddenly burst forth with dazzling golden light.
Affected by the golden light, Blood Shadow's movement slowed down immediately.
Seeing this, Feng Fei quickly swung his golden sword at the blood shadow. When the golden sword was pulled back, it brought out a cloud of black smoke, slicing through the snake-tailed, fish-headed monster and instantly creating a huge gash.
Blood Shadow did not expect that its original form, after recalling thousands of clones, would still be injured by Feng Fei. What angered it even more was that Feng Fei actually took the opportunity to injure its host, the snake-tailed fish-headed monster.
Blood Shadow roared furiously, ignoring the injuries inflicted by the golden sword, his eyes flashing with terrifying light as he stared at Feng Fei. His once solid body began to twist and contort at an increasingly rapid pace.
Feng Fei's heart skipped a beat; he had a gut feeling that something bad was about to happen, and what he needed to do now was to stop it.
But at this moment, Blood Shadow seemed to have suddenly realized something. Instead of standing still, it used its advantages to quickly move between different locations throughout the space. However, it would pause briefly every now and then, allowing its body to twist further.
Even so, Feng Fei was helpless against it.
Seeing Feng Fei's anxiety, Xue Tuan nuzzled Feng Fei's shoulder worriedly: "Sister Fei Fei, are we not going to attack the monster anymore?"
A single word awakened me from my dream.
Feng Fei was so focused on stopping Xue Ying from preparing for its ultimate attack that he forgot this was the perfect opportunity to attack the snake-tailed fish-headed monster. This monster was Xue Ying's host; if it died, Xue Ying would be rendered powerless.
Thinking of this, Fengfei happily kissed Xuetuan's forehead, making her smile broadly.
"Snowball, you're so clever!"
Overjoyed at Feng Fei's praise, even the glistening water on the tortoise shell protecting them trembled.
Feng Fei naturally knew that Xue Tuan was happy. Seeing this, she smiled and told Xue Tuan to guard their defenses, while she began her bloody act.
Let's start with what's around us!
Blood Shadow shifted its position in the sky, while the area below where Feng Fei was located was less blocked.
Feng Fei chuckled and channeled his spiritual energy into the golden sword, which immediately unleashed a beam of light ten feet long.
The fleshy walls that appeared before Feng Fei's eyes became the perfect whetstone for the golden sword, making it easy to use.
With a flick of his right hand, the golden sword's radiance slashed at the flesh wall, instantly drawing out a plump mass of flesh and blood.
The snake-tailed fish-headed monster writhed in pain once more, and the entire space began to shake again.