Chapter 244: The Devil's Spell

Judging by the size and height of the demon fetus's stone tower, it resembled a huge mountain which had been buried in the soil. If someone were to place the Great Pyramid of Giza next to it, according to Fei Fei's words, it could be described as the ratio between a lizard and a tyrannosaurus.

Each stne chip could possibly be the last piece but after they had brushed away the soil, a new stone chip would appear once again. The bitter cold and rigidity shattered everyone's longing. It was only until twenty-seven days later that Wen Leyang excavated a gigantic stone chip that he was incapable of using his telegnosis ability to measure its exact surface area. He then felt the ground beneath his feet get lighter and the soil turned loose and soft.

At the same time, Qian Ren too squalled in excitement, "I can see the bottom now! Follow my order and burst out our powers to clear the soil!" Following that, he inhaled a deep breath and shouted all of a sudden, "Break!"

Until this point, all Wen Leyang could see were only layers upon layers of stone chips from the final stone slab which was the size of an enormous lake beneath his feet all the way up to the stone chip that was about the size of a lighter which protruded from the ground.

This could only be considered as a part of the demon fetus while the true demon fetus's root was underneath this last stone slab.

The dog-headed eagle's wings spread out abruptly and a tremendous force blasted into the soil beneath the last stone slab with loud banging noises. The loose soil then turned into an agitated vortex under the churning of the tremendous force that squeezed it towards the sides desperately. Wen Leyang understood Qian Ren's order as the Poison of Life and Death in his body circulated. Just as he was about to exert his power to help Qian Ren clear the soil beneath the last stone slab, he felt a pull on his back as Chang Li hauled him next to her. Meanwhile, Zhui Zi had carried Xiaowu and was standing nearby.

The both of them spoke in unison, "Who do you think you are, asking us to follow your order?" Following that, the two witches pouted their lips in unison again...

What was most surprising to them was that Qian Ren had not needed to exhaust too much of his energy before the soil beneath the stone tower was cleared away! Only a little bit of surface soil had remained on the demon tower which was utterly incapable of withstanding the hurricane which had been conjured by the dog-headed eagle.

The three demon immortals had not expected this to happen. They gasped softly in surprise while the dog-headed eagle, who had exerted too much strength, spun around twice before it managed to steady itself with difficulty.

From Wen Leyang's point of view, though the demon fetus's stone tower was enormous in size, it was not very different from a carrot. Those two objects grew out from the soil in a similar manner; the stone tower was the leafy part of the carrot while the demon fetus's true body was the root. No matter how deep it was buried, it would still be uncovered eventually.

Wen Leyang stood on the final stone slab as he bent over and looked down. To his surprise, beneath him was a large, bottomless void with a greenish tinge that looked like it could stretch all the way to the earth's core!

Wen Leyang was still astounded at the type of force which was capable of supporting this demon fetus's stone tower in the middle of a void when he felt someone grip his arms. Chang Li and Zhui Zi each held on to one of his arms as they floated down from the last stone slab. They descended the void into that boundless ghastly green glow beneath the stone tower.

Xiaowu moved quickly as she jumped from Zhui Zi's embrace and grabbed onto Wen Leyang's neck while her other unoccupied hand grabbed her mourning staff out of thin air. Her little face was filled with vigilance but that vigilant expression was soon shaken into nothingness...

Beneath the stone tower, the demon fetus's true form was revealed to the minutest detail; it was a giant, dark green bird!

The giant bird's wings were the length of over a dozen meters and covered most of its body. The feathers on its body were full and strong as it glowed magnificently. Its feathers would occasionally ripple in the air. The most hideous thing was that this giant bird has a human face. Its skull was smooth and stiff with powerful sword-like brows, its eyes were closed and its nose bridge was transparent while serene smile lines hung on its slightly puckered lips. It appeared as if it was having a sweet dream and its five facial features could be described as charming was surprisingly attached to a square-shaped face.

Wen Leyang could confirm that the four edges of its face were at right angles...

The demon fetus was a human-faced bird-bodied monster which was roughly the size of a basketball court. Its back was tightly connected to the stone tower and it was almost impossible to distinguish whether the stone tower was suppressing the strange bird or the strange bird was heaving the stone tower up.

Wen Leyang could not help but raise his head and looked at the dog-headed eagle. He had no choice but to say that the demon fetus beneath the stone tower was extremely similar to the dog-headed eagle; one was a dark red-colored dog-headed giant eagle while another was a dark green-colored human-faced phoenix.

Whether it was the dog-headed eagle who was usually filled with ruthlessness and tyranny, or Chang Li and Zhui Zi who were charming and attractive, everyone at the scene had the same expression - they were shocked and terrified!

Only Wen Leyang was behaving in a relatively normal manner. Though the human-faced and bird-bodied demon fetus appeared peculiar to him, he did not consider it as terrifying or hideous. During the past few years, Wen Leyang had seen a wailing giant bronze Buddha, a giant pangolin that loves to curse, and there was also a cultivator who was contained in a monkey that was in a dog-headed eagle before his eyes. There was also the zombie toddler who had been struck by god's thunder and had turned into a cute baby back at the Wen family village... Therefore, such a peculiar-looking demon fetus was perfectly acceptable to Wen Leyang.

In the green-tinged void, the ambiance was peculiar and hushed. No one spoke and Wen Leyang dared not make a sound. It was only after a long while that Qian Ren spoke up dryly, "I had been wrong, this... Is not the Ending Vine!"

Chang Li too, laughed grudgingly as she heaved a sigh, "We had all been wrong, this is utterly not a demon fetus!"

A clicking sound echoed from the jade knife. Guo Huan has almost turned mad after witnessing the monster before his eyes, it was as if he wanted to speak but the sound that he finally made was this meaningless scraping noise.

Wen Leyang was so nervous that he used his armpit to clamp down onto Chang Li and Zhui Zi's hand strenuously, "This is not the demon fetus that had turned into a vine on its own? What is this creature here then?"

Chang Li enunciated word by word to answer him, "It's a divine fetus!"

Zhui Zi looked at the human-faced giant bird before her eyes. She had forgotten to oppose Chang Li since earlier as she continued Chang Li's topic of conversation, "Seventeen divine feathers, ten fingers on two wings, phoenix-bodied human-faced, east heaven's wood officer..."

Under Wen Leyang's close scrutiny, there were a dozen gigantic long feathers on the bird's body that were absolutely disproportioned to the rest of the feathers which covered its neck all the way to its long tail. The two wings that encircled its body were crossed together beneath its stomach like ten fingers.

At last, Zhui Zi spoke in a voice which trembled slightly, "Gou Mang! It's the wood deity Gou Mang! This is Gou Mang's divine fetus, it is not the Ending Vine's demon fetus!"

Chang Li nodded as she added, "It all makes sense now why its demonic primordial energy... divine primordial energy was already so vigorous even before it has opened up the path of its spiritual intelligence!"

Wen Leyang exclaimed in wonder before he asked, "Isn't Gou Mang... A tree? That's why we have the Gou Mang's seed, not Gou Mang's egg..."

Chang Li rolled her eyes at him, "Before Gou Mang received its magic, it had been a divine tree in the land of sunrise. After it had received its magic, it then transformed into the human-faced immortal bird!"

Wen Leyang nodded, he does not have much concept of the great deities from ancient times so he was only astonished for a while upon seeing one in the wild. He soon recovered from his surprise, "How about Qin Zhui..."

"Qin Zhui is fine! He had been pulled down by the Ending Vine!" As it was saying that, the dog-headed eagle used its chin which was a few hundred square meters to point in a certain direction. It was only then that Wen Leyang noticed Qin Zhui who had been wrapped in a layer of vines until only his head had stuck out. Qin Zhui's eyes were tightly shut either from unconsciousness or meditation.

The human-faced bird-bodied monster seems to possess a form of inherent magic power that was capable of drawing everyone's gaze to its body. Wen Leyang had been very attentive when he had arrived down here but even he had missed seeing Qin Zhui who was just next to the strange bird.

Apparently, Qian Ren's attention too had been focused on the Gou Mang's divine fetus. He then explained to Wen Leyang absentmindedly, "My Ending Vine is not a mortal item, it had gathered near the divine fetus to be in the wood spirit's divine glow so that's not a rare occurrence. The vine and Qin Zhui's primordial foundation had been originated from the same source. They were too intimately connected which was why the vine had pulled him down."

Before Qian Ren arrived on Mount Hua, he had initially predicted that the Ending Vine would entangle Qin Zhui. Judging by the situation now, other than the addition of Gou Mang's divine fetus, nothing else was out of the ordinary.

Qian Ren's words interrupted Wen Leyang's voice and he shifted his gaze back to the human-faced strange bird. When he spoke again, his tone of speaking sounded very peculiar, almost like someone who had bit into a vegan steamed bun joyously and realizing soon after that the steamed bun's stuffing had been made out of date pits. His voice sounded a little bit puzzled, a little angry, and even more at a loss of whether to laugh or to cry as he said, "The power of Gou Mang's seed back then has completely surged into my dharma body and urged the growth of the entire Ending Cave. That seed had shriveled and dried up so I had flicked it into the soil out of rage... I did not expect that it... Has truly turned into a divine fetus!"

As he was saying that, the dog-headed eagle stretched out a wing and pointed to the strange bird's neck. A thread which was as fine as a spider's web extended from the base of its neck all the way towards the direction of the mountains in a zigzag manner.

Wen Leyang had just thought to inquire further when Zhui Zi laughed, "I'll bring you along and chase after it for a while then you will understand!" She then pulled him along and flew towards the fine thread in a flash.

After flying along swiftly like the wind with Zhui Zi, Wen Leyang detected at the end of his telegnosis ability that the spirit thread had abruptly split into millions of other threads which were finer than a spider's web. The threads were arranged messily yet there was absolutely no crossing between the threads which has spread out in all directions.

Zhui Zi then brought him back to Chang Li and the dog-headed eagle's side. She laughed as she asked him, "Did you see it clearly?"

Wen Leyang nodded and his face was slightly shocked, there were truly too many and of those fine threads and it was so messy that it made one feel uneasy at one glance, "So many threads... Where does it connect to?"

Zhui Zi's tone of speaking was normal and there was still a little fear in her voice, "It's connected to Mount Hua and each and every single blade of grass and tree in the Qinling Mountains after Mount Hua!"

Wen Leyang inhaled a cold breath ferociously, his mouth was agape yet he was so shocked he could not even utter a word.

Qian Ren had expected Wen Leyang to react this way since earlier as he sneered and spoke, "It's mutually growing with the mountains and the trees, every single blade of grass on these rolling hills and every single tree is connected to the root of this divine fetus. It has absorbed the spiritual vitality of the world and converted it into divine primordial energy, heh! This is an outstanding creature here!"

Wen Leyang managed to close his mouth with effort. He then spoke again at long last, "This divine immortal is just... Planted like this?"

Zhui Zi sniggered and she gave Wen Leyang an evil stare but she seems to be too lazy to acknowledge him now.

During this period of time, Chang Li's gaze has never left the Gou Mang's divine fetus's face. A sense of doubt penetrated her face as she said, "This face here... The more I look the more familiar it becomes as if I've seen it somewhere before."

Wen Leyang hastily followed Chang Li's gaze as he sized the human-faced strange bird up and down. He then cautiously reminded her, "Is it Grand Master Tuo Xie?"

Chang Li put her arm around Wen Leyang's shoulder intimately as she stretched out a hand and pointed at the strange bird's face, "Young lad, the pickle jar is round but that face is square!"

At this moment, Guo Huan, who had kept quiet all along suddenly spoke up. His voice was muffled and sounded completely unlike the others. He was filled with the joy of seeing the divine fetus in person but he was also trying to suppress his anger desperately, "This spirit monster of mountain rocks and plants, after it has condensed the demon fetus for millennia, it would absorb the spiritual vitality of the world while it simultaneously pushed the inherent malevolent energy out of its body and formed it into all sorts of foreign matter. Before the demon fetus had taken form, these foreign matters, an example would be the stone tower which we have been excavating for a month, was also part of the demon fetus' body..." He then paused for a moment, "I am a spirit formed from a rock and when I was still a demon fetus, the malevolent energy which had formed outside my body turned into the Yin's Error and Yang's Mistake."

Wen Leyang could not help but to raise his head and peered at the soaring high tower before his eyes, "So, after this strange bird is resurrected... Its treasured weapon is this stone mountain here?!" As he was pondering on that, he could not refrain himself from gulping nervously. He had thought in his heart that this divine fetus was indeed extraordinary but, soon after that, he changed his mindset. If the wood deity's treasured weapon could turn into a huge mountain, what would the Tudigong deity used as his war weapon then?

Guo Huan huffed as he retorted, "It can be as what you've just said, the foreign matter that had been formed by the malevolent energy in the body similarly received the creation of the world. The spirit monster would become their treasured weapon after it has taken form. However, this old father does not want to talk about the treasured weapon, I wanted to talk about how the divine fetus had got its malevolent energy! There was so much malevolent energy that it had formed into a mountain!"

The dog-headed eagle sniggered and it seems to think that Guo Huan's statement was boring, "The refinement of the divine fetus is a stupendous heavenly mystery, it's not something that we can understand. Perhaps this stone tower is not condensing the malevolent energy but the divine immortal's merciful heart!"

Guo Huan inhaled a deep breath strenuously. He was attempting to suppress his temper yet, the moment he spoke, the first word unexpectedly turned into a long, anguished howl, "Merciful motherf*cking *ss!"

The rest of them did not understand why Guo Huan was suddenly infuriated. The agitated Guo Huan gave another long howl before he roared aloud once again, "Chang Li, didn't you find that face familiar? Ponder carefully once again, whose face is that?!"

Chang Li squinted her eyes as she looked carefully at the Gou Mang's divine fetus's human face. She frowned and Guo Huan waited several seconds before he grew impatient and yelled, "That's my face! That bird's face is my face!"

Chang Li was startled but she giggled instead, "Go away, your face is like a pumpkin's face and looks just like the moon on the sixth day of the lunar month. How could it be square like this!"

Wen Leyang felt the jade knife at the base of his neck turn scorching hot. Guo Huan was truly infuriated this time, if he still had his body, he would definitely be spitting blood now. He scolded in rage ferociously, "Gou Mang has a human face's and bird's body and a square-shaped face. These are all correct but those five facial features are obviously from my face! How can I not recognize myself!"

Chang Li's laughter suddenly vanished as she asked Guo Huan softly, "What are you trying to say actually?"

Zhui Zi, on the other hand, stretched out her hand and took the jade knife from Wen Leyang's neck into her palm. A gush of blue-colored water radiance swept past the jade knife and the refreshing coldness helped Guo Huan to calm down.

With Zhui Zi's help, Guo Huan's emotion was pacified but his voice still trembled slightly, "The Gou Mang's seed had stolen my split body! The thing that is cultivating energy and refining spirit right now is not a demon fetus nor a divine fetus, it is... I don't know what it is but if the Gou Mang's spiritual seed is truly capable of incubating the divine fetus, this thing here should then be the devil's fetus!"

There were four old demons at the scene and each of them was without a doubt experienced and knowledgeable. Nevertheless, Qian Ren's god-level body was actually human, Zhui Zi's body had been refined by someone through the use of magical arts, and Chang Li was a demon cat so there had been no need for her to condense from a demon fetus before she became a demon. Only Guo Huan, who had been a mountain ghost's stone monster, had experienced almost the same refinement process as the wood spirit monster. Therefore, he has the best insight towards this strange fetus before his eyes.

Perhaps he was trying to calm his emotions with great effort or perhaps he was rephrasing his words, Guo Huan stayed quiet for a while before he spoke up once again. However, he chose to divert the conversation's topic, "When the earth was first separated from the heavens, there had initially been no separation of what was considered as a deity or a devil. Originally, a lot of rare spiritual creatures had been scattered between the heavens and earth. The majority of these creatures were finally reduced to mortal fetuses while there were only a limited amount of creatures who were capable of cultivating into an immortal and could finally ascend into the heavens as a deity after countless years of cultivation."

Wen Leyang did not understand what Guo Huan was saying and he turned to peer at Xiaowu who had placed her chin on his shoulder in uncertainty. Xiaowu pouted her lips and made an unhappy expression. She then reached out and fumbled through her pocket before passing a piece of Wrigley's Doublemint gum to him reluctantly.

"Back in those days, even Gou Mang had to pass through millions of years of cultivation alone before he could become a deity, only then could he finally break the devil's spell!" Guo Huan continued to speak dully, there was no emotional fluctuation in his tone at all, "From the day the spirit creature was born, its immortal's root and devil's spell represents a positive and a negative or a Yin and a Yang. When these two parts entangle together as one, it will then become the embodiment of chaos. In order to ascend onto the pathway of an immortal, it will finally need to absorb the spiritual vitality of the world to strengthen the righteous energy and exorcise the evil energy such that its immortal's root will destroy the devil's spell!"

Guo Huan watched as the other old demons nodded before he continued to speak, "When Qian Ren had received Gou Mang's spiritual seed, it was still the embodiment of chaos so its immortal's root was not on par with the devil's spell. The immortal's root was then nourished by Wood Elemental spiritual vitality while the devil's spell was fostered by the plant's evil energy."

Qian Ren was an experienced cultivator, he has cultivated for many years before those demon immortals like Chang Li and Guo Huan had come to be. Qian Ren and Guo Huan's Immortal Caves were both on Mount Hua but back when the Ending Cave had suddenly grown exponentially, it was unknown where Guo Huan was at that time. Upon listening to Guo Huan's words, the dog-headed eagle widened its eyes, "So what you're saying is that... When I had drawn out the spiritual vitality in Gou Mang's seed back then, it was also its immortal's root?"

Guo Huan laughed gloomily in the jade knife, "The spiritual seed had been made in the heaven so its immortal's root possesses pure and vigorous spiritual primordial energy. It should have been alright when a small portion had been drawn out by you but this spiritual seed here has grown into the entire stretch of Ending Cave until the wood spirit's energy has covered the entire Mount Hua. The spiritual primordial energy which had been was stored in Gou Mang's seed's immortal root had been completely drained since back then! What remained was only the devil's spell and an endless evil energy!"

The dog-headed eagle's face was filled with the color of bitter remorse. It took a while before it reacted to the situation. However, it could only be considered as the criminal's tool in this situation and not the chief conspirator.

Guo Huan completely disregarded the dog-headed eagle's expression as he exhaled a long breath. Though he was supposed to be just a demon's primordial soul and utterly did not need to breathe, he could not change his habits and felt that he could not express his emotions fully without sighing, "The energy from the heavens and earth had strengthened the righteous and exorcised the evil. This Gou Mang's seed with only the devil's spell and evil energy was supposedly incapable of surviving on its own but it had somehow managed to survive due to a lucky coincidence!" Upon saying that, Guo Huan paused for a moment before he added, "It was the mountain's Yin, the malevolent energy, that rejected vitality!"

During the creation of the heavens and earth, vitality had been used to break malevolent energy. However, there were still countless corners in the world that were completely cut off from a source of vitality energy. For example, the act of burying a corpse in the soil would cause the deceased to turn into shriveled bones in ordinary burial grounds and the body would be converted into fertile soil that nourishes plants and moistened vitality. However, if a corpse was buried in the land of Yin malevolence, the corpse would never decompose and finally turn into a dangerous zombie.

Even though there was a difference in scale, the theory behind it was exactly the same. The 'Standing Softshell Turtle' had not been formed by a fallen meteor but was instead a 'turtle swallowing the heavens' type of terrain which had been formed from the condensation of malevolent energy in the mountains eons ago. Underneath the giant rock, vitality energy had been isolated while Yin malevolence condensed. One would probably not find another land with such a revolting creation on the entire Mount Hua. If Fifth Brother Hanba were to visit this place, he would smile so joyously until his mouth became askew.

The spiritual seed's immortal's root had been broken and all that remained was the devil's spell. For it to continue to grow bigger and stronger, it would need to absorb the spiritual vitality of the world in order to refine its body. Its immortal's root would have absorbed the spiritual vitality of the sun and the moon while the devil's spell gathered Yin energy and poisonous mist.

Zhui Zi finally understood the reason for Guo Huan's rage and her face filled with sorrow and bitterness. She gazed at Guo Huan with a gaze filled with the greatest pity as she said, "The spiritual seed was supposed to have the immortal's root and devil's spell, the mutual complement of the Yin and Yang energies would result in creating a vital spark. Only after that could it germinate and grow roots. The immortal's root would then slowly abolish the devil's spell. If it had been successful, it could have reached the heavens in a single bound. However, if it had failed to abolish the devil's spell, it would then be turned into dust.

Guo Huan understood her explanation and answered dully, "That's correct."

A few streams of tears glided out from Zhui Zi's eyes, "The spiritual seed had lost its immortal's root and retained the devil's spell, it lacked a portion of the Yin and Yang so it had survived under the protection of the mountain's Yin energy. This was why it had experienced great difficulty in taking the form of a fetus but it had managed to find assistance... Which was in the form of that split body of yours that does not possess spiritual intelligence yet contained vital fire...

Her eyes were filled with pity towards Guo Huan, Xiaowu was shedding tears just by looking at her expression. However, the corners of Zhui Zi's mouth unexpectedly twitched as the smile lines that took pleasure in other's misfortune floated onto her face uncontrollably. The bitter and sorrowful expression dispersed into nothingness all at once and the feigned appearance that she had laboriously put up turned into an abomination which made one amused and angry. Zhui Zi finally sniggered aloud, "Hah-hah-hah, old demon, you are truly very unfortunate!"

The green-tinged void was abruptly brightened by Zhui Zi's smile which revealed her true colors in a flash as Guo Huan howled in helpless rage within the jade knife.

Chang Li convulsed with laughter as she explained to Wen Leyang softly, "The spiritual seed that lost its immortal's root had hidden beneath the 'Standing Softshell Turtle'. Without a vital fire, it could never germinate but over the course of eons of years, its spiritual root has spread far and wide." She pointed to the fine thread at the base of the bird's neck as she said that. "Every single grass and tree that covers the mountains and the fields were its ears and eyes. It had then discovered Guo Huan's split body and even though the plants were weak then, Guo Huan's split body was only a living dead which was incapable of thinking or moving. That split body was finally brought in by the spiritual seed and it then borrowed his vital fire to germinate and transform into its devil's form! Remember that Guo Huan' Immortal's Cave had been overgrown with wild vines and strange trees..."

Wen Leyang nodded and Chang Li continued, "The fusion of the spiritual seed and Guo Huan's split body as one had turned into the exact replica of Gou Mang in the end. However, it would be an evil creature with sinful devil's root when it is fully grown."

Guo Hua panted strenuously as he pretended not to hear Chang Li's laughter which sounded louder than her speech. Chang Li continued to pester him as she stretched out a hand and knocked onto the jade knife smilingly, "Mountain ghost, let me ask you this, if that demon fetus' face was exactly the same as Zhui Zi's face, would you be laughing at her too?"

Guo Huan answered in an unpleasant voice and tone, "This old father will laugh at her for the next three days! I will even laugh in my dreams hereafter!"

Zhui Zi was not bothered, she has since cast her piteous act to the winds, "Then so be it, since the split body will never return now, the angrier and dejected you are, the more losses you will suffer!"

Qian Ren sniggered as well but that immediately resulted in Zhui Zi and Chang Li's raging glare. Guo Huan cursed in an exceedingly spirited manner, "This old father is not close to you, who are you to laugh at me!"

Qian Ren's laughter immediately turned into coughs...