Chapter 131 - 128: Endless Abyss
In the hospital room, Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou stared at each other, speechless. Su Su, on the other hand, was trying to recall the contents of a book, wondering about the meaning of the Magic Language she had just heard. After Doudou quietly explained it to her, she too was at a loss.
Of course, their levels of shock were different. Su Su, not understanding the significance of the Image of Order, was simply shocked that a statue in their "home" had come to life. Doudou and Qin Xiaoxia, however, were absolutely freaking out.
’Holy shit, the Statue of Comir is alive? Could it be the descent of a "True God"?’
"Master? Kemando? I... what should I do?"
From the tone Mumu managed to produce, both Doudou and Qin Xiaoxia could tell it was extremely nervous.
In truth, Qin Xiaoxia didn’t know what to do either. The Secret Realm’s power was already so fragile that it probably wouldn’t be much help. Not to mention, he hadn’t recovered yet, and even if he had, it wouldn’t solve this immediate crisis.
"Ahem... Mumu, stay calm. Protect the Crystal Ore as best you can and keep observing. Don’t make any rash moves. Await my next instructions."
With every sentence Qin Xiaoxia spoke, Mumu’s wooden head on the other end would nod in a very human-like manner.
He had just finished saying "await my next instructions" when Mumu, before it could even say anything, realized the call had been disconnected.
Uh...
It wasn’t stupid. The Master’s meaning was obvious: ’I can’t do anything for now, so you’ll have to handle it.’
Mumu recalled the feeling of its vines wrapped around the statue earlier, and it felt a little more at ease.
’Calm down, calm down! It’s still mostly just a statue, only a small part of it has come to life! Everything will be fine once the Master gets back! But when is Kemando coming back?’
A large thorny plant leaned against the wall, its branches clutching a phone, nodding to itself and trying to build up its courage. The scene was quite amusing.
It sensed that its pollen had been disturbed.
Mumu froze. It quickly put away the precious burner phone, then released its Magic Power, using demonic vines to seal off every entrance, exit, and air vent of the empty hall.
Countless tough vines, some emerald green, others withered yellow, grew rapidly toward the empty hall like slithering spirit snakes, forming layer upon layer of a woven plant-based net over the doorways, corridors, and other areas.
The entire hall’s space was reduced by a third under the green entanglement. A glance would reveal what looked like a dense birdcage grown from plants.
This special cage was dotted all over with small flowers and fruits.
’That should do it!’
Mumu secretly used a thorny vine to peek through a gap in the cage. Had the Statue of Comir just moved its hand?
Originally, the statue’s hands were positioned with the right arm extended and the left hand holding it. Now, the two arms were separated.
"Mmm~~~"
It was a sound like a sigh, or perhaps a soft hum from someone half-asleep, its tone melodious and gentle.
Hearing this sound, Mumu reacted like a frightened bird, instantly retracting its thorny vine and diving underground to play dead.
...
「On the other side of the ocean, inside Saint Louis Central Hospital.」
Qin Xiaoxia, who had originally planned to continue recuperating here, was now in a hurry to be discharged.
Going home was now an urgent matter. Because of this, something that could have been handled slowly had to be moved up.
Qin Xiaoxia had no intention of leaving that strange whip behind. It was a spoil of war obtained at a heavy price; he had to find a way to take it with him, or at the very least, move it somewhere else.
At the hospital’s front desk, Su Su was handling Qin Xiaoxia’s discharge procedures.
"Are you sure your friend doesn’t want to stay for a few more days of observation? The medical expenses for this disaster are being covered by the government."
The staff member assumed the Chinese man was eager to be discharged because he was worried about the cost of staying in the hospital.
Su Su exchanged a few words with Qin Xiaoxia, translating for him as he pretended not to understand English.
Then she turned back to continue with the paperwork.
"Thank you for your kindness. My friend’s previous danger was mainly shock from excessive blood loss. He’s fine now. There’s no need to take up the hospital’s strained medical resources for some tissue contusions and muscle strains."
The staff member nodded, printed out a series of forms and documents, and handed them to Su Su at the window.
"You’re welcome. As long as you’ve thought it through."
After getting his passport and papers back and completing all the procedures, Qin Xiaoxia walked out of the hospital, looking a bit unsteady as he leaned on Su Su for support.
Outside, Jenny had been waiting for a while in her aunt’s car.
As soon as he got in the car, Qin Xiaoxia dropped his weak facade and began to stretch his limbs. At least in terms of stamina, he had recovered quite a bit.
His recovery speed this time was actually much faster than he had anticipated. The Magic Power within him was like streams of burning purple fire, constantly and joyfully dancing.
Qin Xiaoxia was certain that after the Flame Demon died and its power was drained by the Power of the World, a portion of it had been fed back into him.
Although he couldn’t rule out the possibility that his own Magic Power, which possessed a certain devouring Ability, had swallowed some of the Flame Demon’s characteristics during the fight, that was highly unlikely since he’d had almost no Magic Power left in his body at the time.
The Flame Demon’s power needed no further proof. So why were an Elf like Mumu and even a weakling like Doudou unharmed, while the Flame Demon itself was devoured?
It was likely related to the fact that it had assimilated with the Hell Fragment.
A World Fragment could be devoured directly, but for living Spirit Bodies or substances with the characteristics of life, the world probably couldn’t just dismantle their existence.
The Mogalons World was once immensely powerful, and the tyrannical beings from it were feared by the creatures of many worlds. Among the known worlds, only a few wondrous ones like Magson’s were truly not afraid of Mogalons.
No one really knows why the world known as Hell was destroyed, but its destruction led to the understanding of a certain phenomenon.
The more powerful a being, the more it cannot leave the world it depends on. As a symbiotic community, when Hell was destroyed, the vast majority of Ancient Demons perished one after another. The Flame Demon from before was likely one of the few lucky—or unlucky—ones.
The car drove to a secluded spot in the city. Qin Xiaoxia and Doudou got out one after the other, while Su Su and Jenny remained in the car.
The two of them quietly lifted a manhole cover, preparing to enter the city’s sewer system.
"It stinks so bad! Big Cousin, can I not go?"
Doudou pinched his nose in disgust and tried to go back to the car, but Qin Xiaoxia grabbed him by the collar and jumped down with him.
Both of them had a sense of smell far superior to that of ordinary people, so naturally, Qin Xiaoxia didn’t like the smell here either. After landing on his feet, he tried to breathe as little as possible.
"What are you whining about? That vine is controlled by your Magic Power. If you don’t come, who will?"
Qin Xiaoxia put Doudou down on the walkway and ignored his protests.
"It’s near this spot, right?"
Doudou walked a few steps ahead to lead the way.
"It’s still up ahead. I had the vine drag the thing out from underground. It broke a hole in the sewer pipe, but it seems to have run out of strength."
In less than ten minutes, Qin Xiaoxia saw the vine.
This wasn’t just a matter of running out of strength; it was on the verge of death.
The sewage in the section of sewer ahead was shallower because a large hole had been torn in the middle of the pipe. A vine—a plant that had no business being in a sewer—was "growing" by the edge of the hole.
The vine was no longer emerald green; most of it was charred black and its branches and leaves were covered in filth. Its life force was also extremely faint. However, a few of its main branches were still tightly wrapped around a pitch-black object that was sticking out of the opening.
’That whip was over ten meters long and scorching hot. This poor Demon Vine really went through a lot.’
Qin Xiaoxia walked up quickly, and without minding the filth, grabbed the vine’s branches and pulled upwards with all his might.
The heavy weight made Qin Xiaoxia’s muscles tense up. He was still weak, after all. He had to make his Magic Power surge before he could finally pull the vine to its end and grab the long, black handle, which was thicker than his own body.
"Big Cousin, how are we supposed to carry this?"
Doudou gestured at its size from the side, realizing his own height was only a tiny bit more than the great handle’s diameter.
"Yeah, and this thing won’t exactly get through customs, will it?"
Qin Xiaoxia’s words sounded more like a joke to tease Doudou; he didn’t seem frustrated or helpless at all.
Grasping the whip’s handle with both hands, he released the small but abnormally active amount of Magic Power he had recovered.
The fiery Magic Power flowed from his arms into the whip’s handle, then quickly spread to the entire length of the whip buried deep underground.
It ignited!
The entire whip was on fire!
Unlike the crimson red it had shown in the Flame Demon’s hands, this time it burned with a more volatile purple fire.
A large amount of the surrounding sewage evaporated, and a thick white mist rose up in this section of the sewer.
The consumption of Magic Power was far less than he had imagined. The long whip in his hands felt as if it had become an extension of his own limbs, allowing him to control its length, temperature, and other special abilities that he couldn’t quite grasp yet.
Even its original, crushing weight now felt as light as a feather in his hands.
Forget about the various difficulties he had anticipated; there wasn’t even a hint of resistance from it.
If not for its utterly disproportionate size, Qin Xiaoxia would have been tempted to give it a test swing.
The moment that thought arose, the enormous whip handle in his hands changed rapidly, transforming in the blink of an eye into a perfectly sized, pitch-black long whip.
It was as magical as Sun Monkey’s Golden Cudgel.
The flames burned away the filth upon it, revealing a body as deep and brilliant as soft, black obsidian beneath the purple glow.
Endless Abyss!
At that moment, the long whip’s name surfaced in his mind.
PS: Third Chapter of the day.
Also, the book has officially hit the "Boutique" milestone! Thank you all for your support, and congratulations to me!
By the way, the England Team played like they were sleepwalking today!