Chapter 1246: Counter-devouring
Navy Li'l Fatty seemed to have run out of patience a long time ago, but without Li Qingshan's will, it was unable to overcome its instincts to attack its own kind. Now that it had finally received permission, it immediately split open with a great mouth and swallowed the resplendent star composed of earth, fire, wind, and water in a single gulp.
The balance of the star was immediately broken. The earth collapsed and erupted, the flames spread and blazed violently, the winds surged and blew, and the water swelled turbulendently. A world that was about to be born was destroyed.
Navy Li'l Fatty's body immediately swelled to several dozen times its original size, almost losing its original shape as if it was about to burst.
The earth, fire, wind, and water could not even be considered as the actual elements. Instead, they were the purest of powers, the substance that formed the basis of the world.
Even when great cultivators and Daemon Kings faced this, they would be as feeble as mortals going up against natural disasters.
The three of them hid in an unknown organ inside Navy Li'l Fatty, gazing at the soul-stirring sight in the "stomach" through a transparent spatial membrane. It led to another series of amazed sighs and some more comprehension.
"This space-devouring beast is extremely large, so the world it contains must be colossal too. Can your L- Li'l fatty digest it?"
Rāhu Xiaoming endured how inappropriate the name was and stated his worries.
Li Qingshan answered, "Even a god like you doesn't know, so how would I know? Heh, it's turning into a Big Fatty soon."
"Alright then! I think Li'l Fatty is still a bit better." Rāhu Xiaoming felt that his tolerance for these dumb names was limited.
Li Qingshan was delighted. "So you've finally developed some taste for names, Xiaoming!"
The corner of Rāhu Xiaoming's eyes twitched. "Li Qingshan, you and I are definitely going to have a battle!"
Gu Yanying interrupted their staredown,."We're quite lucky. If it weren't for Li'l Fatty, we wouldn't be able to withstand an energy explosion like this even if we killed the large space-devouring beast. We'd be dying anyway!"
Li Qingshan said, "it's not just luck. If it hadn't devoured the small space-devouring beasts, Li'l Fatty would have never been able to devour this star either."
At this moment, the violent flood of energy gradually settled down, like water sucked up by a sponge.
All of the volcanoes in the small world erupted, regardless of whether they were located on land or in the ocean, whether they were active or dormant. Lava and earthen flames spewed out as thick plumes of black smoke gushed into the air.
Great winds swept through the entire world. Fierce winds, violent winds, and tornados surged around, but they were unable to disperse the blanketing dark clouds. Lightning crackled and thunder flashed as rain poured down endlessly. Floods ran amok, rampaging across the land freely.
This apocalyptic sight could even make the toughest, unruliest martial arts practitioner tremble.
The ship was like a toy, tossed high into the air by the waves before landing heavily again. They navigated between mountainous waves, giving them the false impression that they were navigating at the bottom of the ocean.
Wu Tieshan steered the ship personally, but it was completely useless. The pirates behind him constantly shouted out, "Spare us, hero king!"
He could not help but think to himself, Don't tell me my mother's been lying to me, and I'm actually his son? My dear father, please stop messing around!
Bang!
A great wave smashed into the ship, sending wooden splinters flying through the air together with countless treasures.
Wu Tieshan sucked in a deep breath and found the statue of the woman. He leapt out, sinking into the ocean with the statue in his arms.
Li Qingshan did not have the time to pay any attention to the events in the small world. He was not the bodhisattva of mercy and compassion, Avalokite?vara. Each to their own fate.
He was paying attention to how Navy Li'l Fatty transported the earth, fire, wind, and water to the small world. When Navy Li'l Fatty devoured the small space-devouring beasts, he had tried understanding this, but he did not see the existence of something like a portal. It was no different now.
There seemed to be an invisible tunnel between Navy Li'l Fatty and the small world, linking them together in a way that he did not understand. It was an even firmer connection than the one between him and his mirror clone, just like how the six realms of sa?sāra were connected with all the worlds.
A while later, the earth, fire, wind, and water ran out. Navy Li'l Fatty had grown much larger yet again, becoming even more lively.
Li Qingshan shook his head. There were far too many secrets across the many worlds. He would probably only get an answer after he made it to beyond the Nine Heavens.
Fortunately, he no longer had to worry about losing his connection with his clone. Right now, he felt like he was still in the small world. His connection with his clone had become extraordinarily clear again, able to control the clone with ease.
However, he also felt some pity. It's unfortunate that my power isn't enough right now. Otherwise, if I can absorb the earth, fire, wind, and water, it'll probably push my ox, tiger, phoenix, and turtle transformations to an unbelievable height. Though, it's not like it can end up with someone else. It's all inside the small world, so I can take my time with absorbing it.
Perhaps the small world could no longer be called a small world anymore. Not only had it grown to ten times the size, the flow of time had become much slower too. It was still nowhere close to the nine provinces, but once it completely digested everything it had devoured, it should become capable of containing second heavenly tribulation existences.
In outer space, the large space-devouring beast without a fixed form drifted in the darkness, searching for new food.
Suddenly, its body twisted violently and began to collapse gradually, exposing Navy Li'l Fatty inside.
Gu Yanying said, "The large space-devouring beast is dead. We've succeeded."
Rāhu Xiaoming let out a sigh of relief as well. They had finally gotten away with their lives intact again, and they had something they could rely on for the next part of their journey. With a space-devouring beast as a mount, they basically did not have to worry about any dangers at all.
All Li Qingshan saw was the remains of the large space-devouring beast drifting through space. He rubbed his chin. "If we just wait here, do you think we can lure even more space-devouring beasts over?"
That was basically a deal with all upsides and no downsides. The larger the small world became, the more abundant and purer the spiritual Qi he obtained would be. Navy Li'l Fatty would grow stronger too. Perhaps it could just venture to the Demon domain in the future and swallow Qiongqi in a single gulp. That way, he would not have to worry about some promise of five hundred years anymore.
Rāhu Xiaoming sneered. "That's not something for you to decide."
As they spoke, Navy Li'l Fatty had already begun stuffing his face, ignoring Li Qingshan no matter how he tried to stop it. It wolfed away at the large space-devouring beast's collapsed corpse. When the large space-devouring beast had been destroyed, it stopped treating it as a being of the same kind.
With his identity as the god of the world, Li Qingshan could make the space-devouring beast overcome its instincts and attack its own kind, but he could not control the space-devouring beast's instincts to devour everything. After all, it was not that obedient of a pet.
Li Qingshan shrugged. "You just can't stop glutton. We don't have the time anyway. If we stay any longer, Xiao An is going to start panicking. Alright, let's return to our original route first!"
Using the stars around him, he calculated his position. In order to maintain the balance of the five powers, he was forced to suppress his own powers, leading to an overall decline in strength. Only his deductive powers had grown stronger, which was a nice surprise.
A while later, Li Qingshan said, "Start teleporting, Li'l Fatty!"
In the blink of an eye, Navy Li'l Fatty appeared a million kilometres away, returning to the position where they had been swallowed by the large space-devouring beast.