Chapter Seven Hundred and Eighty-One
The Sandworm Emperor continuously provoked the Old Vine with various methods. Vine tendrils lashed out ceaselessly, and with each lash, baleful energy surged forth, terrifying and overwhelming, violent beyond measure.
“Roar!” The Sandworm Emperor constantly unleashed terrifying force with each attack, shaking the entire Taoist temple, directly sweeping towards the Old Vine.
The force collided with the Old Vine’s baleful energy. Where they met, thunderous rumbles erupted, raising monstrous storms that shook the entire temple, yet could not break beyond its walls.
The Sandworm Emperor clearly wished to subdue the Old Vine’s baleful energy. The force it unleashed grew increasingly terrifying with each surge, every activation shaking heaven and earth. It wrapped around everything, as if to shatter the world itself, rocking the temple until the ground trembled and mountains swayed.
Like the surging force of a great river, it enveloped the Old Vine, seeking to thoroughly suppress it. The Old Vine lashed like a giant python without rest, each lash certainly raising ten thousand streams of fierce energy, like a dragon slapping water.
Though the baleful energy was sealed, it was still extraordinarily terrifying. The vine tendrils that shot out ground down the Sandworm Emperor’s repeated attacks. When the baleful energy sometimes swept onto the Sandworm Emperor’s body, it shrieked continuously, its body reacting as if doused with sulphuric acid, white steam hissing forth.
The Sandworm Emperor’s attacks grew increasingly ferocious. By the end, even Ye Chu watched with trembling heart. Each wave of force could easily destroy mountains, the swirling power wrapping layer upon layer around the Old Vine, seeking to suppress it with each rotation.
“Aooo…” The Sandworm Emperor roared again and again. With each roar, force poured down like floodwaters breaking a dike, carrying an unstoppable momentum, sweeping towards the Old Vine, seeking to thoroughly suppress it.
This was a terrifying, heart-chilling assault. Each wave of force carried the divine might of sun and moon, brilliant and terrifying. Yet even such force could not suppress the Old Vine’s baleful energy, being constantly struck and shattered by the vine tendrils.
The clash between Sandworm Emperor and Old Vine grew increasingly fierce. In the end, Ye Chu could no longer see clearly. He only saw the Sandworm Emperor’s attacking force grow ever more terrifying, transforming into mountain after mountain pressing down, as if bearing the weight of tens of thousands of jin.
The Old Vine howled madly. As its tendrils swept, the wildly surging force ground everything to nothing, the might of the baleful energy displayed without doubt.
As the baleful energy struck, crashing into the Sandworm Emperor, white smoke rose in streams from its golden body. The Sandworm Emperor shrieked without cease, clearly suffering heavy wounds.
Ye Chu hid in the distance, watching the two madly clash, feeling the force that shook earth and mountains. He gripped the ground tightly, not letting the shaking throw him off balance, watching that python-like Old Vine lash out and send the Sandworm Emperor flying again and again.
The Sandworm Emperor was struck out repeatedly, yet charged back again and again. On its body of iron walls and bronze ramparts, holes began to appear, all corroded by the baleful energy.
Clearly, this Sandworm Emperor was powerless to subdue the baleful energy.
But whether stimulated or for some other reason, this Sandworm Emperor threw itself at the baleful energy again and again, ignoring the corrosion of its armour-like body, its energy swirling to envelop the Old Vine.
Ye Chu somewhat understood the Sandworm Emperor’s desperate madness. Right now, many powerful experts from the outside world were approaching. This place was no longer its forbidden ground alone. Before long, people would find this place. It no longer had time to slowly grind away at the Old Vine. The best method was to claim the baleful energy for itself before then.
“Boom…” Another collision. The Sandworm Emperor was struck by a vine tendril, leaving a deep mark directly on its hard body. The Sandworm Emperor flew backwards, smashing heavily into the ground of the Taoist temple. The temple possessed miraculous power, so this smash actually did not create a pit, only leaving a shallow mark.
“Roar…”
The Sandworm Emperor exploded with roars. Ye Chu could feel the rage in its heart. Before it, endless force surged over, gathering beside it, and an enormous sand worm appeared, its golden light brilliantly dazzling, illuminating the temple as if piled with gold.
Tidal force rolled forth, as if divine might flashed into being. Terrifying force continuously surged out, and the Sandworm Emperor condensed before it grew ever larger.
In the end, this sand worm reached several dozen zhang in size. The Old Vine seemed insignificant before it.
As the sand worm trembled, incomparable force simultaneously swept towards the Old Vine. The entire sand worm opened its massive maw, biting fiercely towards the Old Vine.
The Old Vine was sealed after all. Though terrifying, the vine tendrils it struck out could not instantly shatter the Sandworm Emperor’s condensed essence of its entire body.
“Roar…”
The Sandworm Emperor poured out all the force of its body, thoroughly enveloping the Old Vine, then with a violent jerk of its head, the Old Vine was forcibly uprooted from the ground.
And in that instant of being uprooted, the Old Vine erupted. Like a volcanic eruption, endless baleful energy surged out, directly blasting the enveloping sand worm to pieces. And in this moment, the Old Vine dimmed briefly.
Ye Chu watched dumbstruck, his heart filled with dread. He stared fixedly at the Sandworm Emperor, wondering if it had the ability to suppress the baleful energy. If it could not, once it erupted, the Sandworm Emperor would certainly die.
But what Ye Chu found hard to believe was that the Sandworm Emperor actually used its true body, opening its mouth and lunging towards the Old Vine. Without suspense, the Old Vine entered its massive abdomen.
“Boom boom…”
Thunderous rumbles instantly rang out, like the sound of thunderclaps striking within the Sandworm Emperor’s belly. The Sandworm Emperor’s originally golden, brilliant body began to dim, but Ye Chu noticed countless patterns continuously sinking into the Sandworm Emperor’s body. As the patterns sank in, the thunderclaps grew fewer and fewer, while the Sandworm Emperor’s body also grew smaller and smaller.
“Essence Condensation!”
Ye Chu’s heart skipped a beat. He thought of a special technique of sand worms called Essence Condensation. This was a special ability of sand worms. To escape, they could instantly shrink, concentrating all their essence in one place.
Now it seemed this Sandworm Emperor was risking its life to use the essence of its entire body to suppress the Old Vine. But could it suppress it?
Ye Chu wondered in his heart. The Sandworm Emperor grew ever smaller, until finally it became only the size of a palm. It rolled about on the ground in agony, and with each roll, terrifying surges of impact force burst forth. Each surge shot straight upwards. In the end, even the temple’s miraculous power could not block it, being directly shattered, piercing through the yellow sand, striking into the clouds above, thoroughly shredding the clouds to pieces.
Such terrifying impacts continued without cease, each one monstrous and horrifying, rolling upwards with thunderous momentum.
The Sandworm Emperor rolled ever more violently, its body growing ever dimmer. Finally, after rolling about madly, it suddenly went completely still, lying there motionless.
“Dead?” Ye Chu wondered, staring fixedly at the Sandworm Emperor. He waited a long time without seeing any movement. At the same time, the Old Vine had not appeared either.
“Did it suppress it?” Ye Chu found it hard to understand. Had this succeeded or not!