Martial Forms and Soul Artifacts

The boy struggled slightly for a moment, then finally withdrew his hand, closed his eyes, and awaited his death.

The Stone Dweller let out a low laugh, drew a chain with a sharp spike, and thrust it toward the boy's neck.

"You have guts, young man. I admire you."

With a snap, Si Ming slapped the chain away. Although he didn't use much force, Stone Dweller still couldn't hold on to it. The chain flew out like it was wrapped around a missile, leaving a bloody mark on Stone Dweller's palm.

Upon hearing the voice, the boy knew he had been spared. Opening his eyes, he hurriedly said, "My benefactor, be careful!"

With a series of clattering sounds, five chains were thrown from the Stone Dweller's hands, wrapping around Si Ming's hands, feet, and waist. The next moment, the five chains were stretched taut by a tremendous force, seemingly trying to pull Si Ming off balance. At the same time, the curse power on the chains was activated, causing Curse to enter his body.

"Oh ho, are you trying to outmuscle me? It's been a while since I've played tug-of-war with anyone. To avoid being accused of bullying a kid, I'll just use one finger."

When the cursed power encountered the Blazing Yang Dou Qi, it was like a mud ox entering the sea. Not only did it not affect Si Ming, but it was also devoured and transformed. He leisurely stretched out an index finger, inserted it into the hole of the chain, and hooked it towards himself.

In an instant, Stone Dweller was pulled over as if he had springs under his feet, and was grabbed by the neck and lifted up by Si Ming.

"You look familiar... I feel like I've seen you somewhere before?" Si Ming carefully examined the other person's appearance, a thoughtful expression on his face, when suddenly his eyes lit up. "That's right, you're from Flying Henan Man!"

The Stone Dweller struggled desperately, frantically pounding on Si Ming with its arms and chains, but it couldn't leave a mark. The force of the Mercury Alloy Body rebounding back made its hand bones ache terribly.

"Could it be that I've been transported into a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and that annoying guy is trying to play Infinite Terror game with me?" Si Ming immediately dismissed the guess. "No way, this is just a wasteland, not even a pond in sight. Where would pirates come from? More like Caribbean bandits."

"Roar!"

The soft tentacles on the Stone Dweller's head fluttered, splattering disgusting viscous fluid, while revealing a large mouth full of sharp teeth, its mouth filled with a fishy stench, about to bite Si Ming's face.

"That scared me to death!"

Si Ming slapped Stone Dweller across the face, knocking out all of his teeth.

"What the hell are you? Don't even mention being from Henan, you're not even human! Is this some kind of horror movie world? An octopus monster, an octopus monster... Cthulhu?"

Si Ming frowned, reached out his other hand and grabbed the other man's forehead, then twisted it in the opposite direction along with the hand holding his neck. With a cracking sound of bones breaking, the Stone Dweller's neck was twisted into a pretzel, his eyes rolled back, black blood overflowed from his mouth, and his body twitched before stopping.

"Twisting its neck will kill it, so it's not Ghostly Monsters, more like an octopus spirit. It feels quite bouncy to the touch; this thing must be quite chewy to eat... Oh well, it's disgusting."

Si Ming casually tossed the body aside, then turned back and asked, "Friend, are you alright?"

"N-nothing."

The boy shrank back, his voice trembling, his eyes darting around, avoiding Si Ming's gaze.

"You seemed pretty brave before, so why are you scared now? Don't worry, that guy's dead."

"He's not afraid of the octopus demon, he's afraid of you." Murong Qing rushed over and sighed helplessly, "You have the aura of a villain from a horror movie, who wouldn't be scared?"

He Qichang also said, "To be honest, I really admire Brother Si for being able to say 'it tastes very chewy' while looking at the head of a humanoid monster. At least most people couldn't do that—anyway, I felt scared when I saw it. You wouldn't happen to be a spy from the Heavenly Rank Demon Race who has infiltrated the Mohist Knight Guard, would you?"

"I'm not scared!" the boy replied stubbornly, "I'm just... a little scared..."

Suddenly, the earth began to shake violently, and dust flew upwards.

The boy's expression changed drastically. "Oh no! It's the Mechanical Sandworm King! We have to get out of here! We absolutely can't let this thing get close; it's a five-star monster!"

"The Mechanical Sandworm King you mentioned is the giant worm we saw before, right? Is it coming over?"

Si Ming and the others made no move to leave; instead, they showed expressions of interest, as if they were waiting for the other party to come to them willingly.

Recalling Si Ming's previous performance, the young man felt reassured. He thought that if the two people who came had similar strength, dealing with a Mechanical Sandworm King wouldn't be difficult, and even eliminating the domain lord of this Spirit Domain wasn't impossible.

"The Mechanical Sandworm King is known to attack from underground, making it difficult to defend against. So you'd better summon Martial Form quickly, or better yet, fly into the air; that will make it much easier to hide."

"Martial Form? What's that?" Si Ming asked back.

This time it was the boy's turn to be stunned. "You don't even know about Martial Form? How is that possible? This is basic common sense in the martial arts world of the Barbarian Continent. How can you become a martial artist without Martial Form?"

"Wait! You're saying this is the Barbarian Continent? Don't talk nonsense. Do you think I've never been to the Barbarian Continent? The Barbarian Continent is a legitimate martial arts world. Where did this Martial Form setting come from?" Si Ming retorted.

The boy was dumbfounded. "But this is the Barbarian Continent..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the earth shook violently, the ground bulged upwards, forming a mound, and then a huge figure burst out of the ground and swallowed Si Ming whole—it was the Mechanical Sandworm King.

"Oh no!" The boy hurriedly turned to Murong Qing and He Qichang and said, "You two, hurry and act! There's still time to save them. Remember to attack the Sandworm King's parts that aren't made of steel."

He Qichang smiled and said, "Don't worry, Brother Si will be fine. This monster can't bite him."

Murong Qing calmly replied, "He'll be out soon."

"What are you talking about? He was...!"

With a loud bang, the Mechanical Sandworm King was blasted open from its inner wall, and blood gushed out like a fountain.

The Mechanical Sandworm King was in unbearable pain, twisting its body frantically and banging its head against the ground. When it was no use, it tried to burrow back into the ground. At this moment, two hands emerged from the wound, grabbed the two sides and tore them open with a sharp tear. With a ripping sound, the Mechanical Sandworm King was completely disemboweled.

"Ptooey, ptooey, stinks! Is this thing's stomach a stinking ditch? It's so filthy!"

Si Ming, completely unharmed and covered in blood, jumped out, shaking his hair with disgust.

"Who... exactly are you?"

Chapter 515 Martial Form and Soul Artifact

When you arrive in an unfamiliar place, gathering intelligence is always the most important thing, unless you possess power that is invincible in this world.

However, based on what Si Ming and his companions encountered along the way, this desolate land still has many powerful alien beasts. The Mechanical Sandworm King alone possesses the power to threaten He Qichang and Murong Qing. If other even stronger alien beasts were to appear, Si Ming dared not say that he could escape unscathed.

The unknown is always the most terrifying. The Mechanical Sandworm King is a good example. It encountered an unknown enemy and thought it was the best time to attack because the enemy did not use its Martial Form. Then it was disemboweled.