Eerie Monsters

Biodata

Origins and Transformation

Eerie Monsters are born in the Black Mist, though Li Chen questions how the mist produces such vast numbers of them 98. Humans can also become Eerie Monsters: people killed by an Evil Cult rise as mutated humanoids in the Black Mist, while exposure to black water causes others to mutate 55 245 250.

Transformation does not always immediately erase awareness. At Canghai Pass, some partially transformed people cannot control their bodies and call for help while attacking students 190.

Appearance

Eerie Monsters have highly varied bodies; recorded specimens rarely look alike 71 79 185.

• Some humanoid monsters resemble zombies covered in lumps of flesh 55.
• Monsters encountered during training have heads growing from their chests, eyes on their hands, multiple arms, and sharp claws 71.
• A Withered Sea Realm monster has four arms, a chest covered in eyes, and legs formed from human flesh and blood 72.
• Other forms include winged creatures, skeletons, masses of tentacles, and even a predatory sea of blue roses 96 154 184 315.
• A group of humanoid Eerie people have clear eyes, horns, and forehead sigils 315.

Abilities and Weaknesses

Regeneration and vitality

Many Eerie Monsters remain alive after being dismembered and can reassemble or regrow damaged flesh 73 80 85.

• Destroying a monster’s weak point can prevent it from reassembling; fighters also burn or thoroughly destroy remains to stop recovery 73 85.
• One Withered Sea Realm monster survives losing its head and having its original Forbidden Substance extracted, then regenerates by eating smaller monsters 194.
• Ling heals rapidly under sustained attack, although the pain remains and the damage nearly outpaces his regeneration 290.

Devouring and growth

Eerie Monsters consume humans and their own kind for power. Stronger monsters can devour weaker ones or corpses to recover and grow 73 88 98 194.

• A Withered Sea Realm monster uses black mist to absorb nearby corpses and regenerate a severed arm 73.
• Li Chen observes that a monster becomes stronger after eating his arm, which contains Forbidden Substance, but does not change form 313.
• They do not consume every available corpse: monsters avoid Lin Hua’s body because spear intent still lingers in it 276.

Forbidden Substance

Forbidden Substance is closely tied to Eerie Monsters’ strength and vitality. Li Chen discovers that he can draw it from their bodies using black blades 88.

• Exposed Forbidden Substance attracts other Eerie Monsters, which may attack the weakened creature to consume it 88 89.
• Losing the substance can weaken a monster and slow its healing, though extraction alone does not kill every specimen immediately 89 194.
• After absorbing a black substance from monsters, Li Chen finds that they become calmer and more docile toward him 80.

Individual abilities

Abilities differ between monsters rather than applying to all of them.

• A floating, one-eyed monster uses roars carrying mental attacks and develops masses of small eyes on severed tentacles 83 84.
• Some monsters can confuse people through their eyes and cause them to lose their sanity 185.
• A sleeping Calamity Realm white python produces a cold wave that freezes people nearby 165.
• Distortion, one of the Six Eeries, can distort matter and corrupt minds; it has no consciousness and responds to energy fluctuations 204.

Realms

Eerie Monsters are encountered across several power realms. They can grow stronger through consumption, but the context does not establish a single fixed progression for every monster 88 98.

Intelligence and the Eerie Race

Many Eerie Monsters act without rationality, attacking and devouring even their own kind 72 89. Reports from Ruined Pass nevertheless show monsters increasingly fusing together to attack, suggesting that some are developing intelligence 77. During an Eerie Tide at Ruined Pass, Yu Qingnian and Gu Cheng observe humanoid monsters that appear intelligent and may be controlling the horde 97.

Li Chen later finds that the Calamity Realm monsters he commands can obey him but cannot communicate or learn like Ling 313. In the Black Mist, he encounters humanoid Eerie people, including a leader who speaks halting human language and recognizes an emperor’s aura on him 315.

The Eerie Race maintains a barrier around its underwater city because mindless Eerie Monsters also regard its people as food 316.

History

Passes and training

Eerie Monsters repeatedly assault humanity’s frontier passes in overwhelming Eerie Tides. At Ruined Pass, Canglan Academy students train against them alongside armed robots; the robots intervene with energy-charged fire to clear remaining monsters 79 81 89 96.

At Canghai Pass, defenders face eight Calamity Realm monsters before a Wasteland Realm creature emerges from the sea 184. In Canghai City, an Eerie Monster released from one of six Shiva Boxes is believed to generate a red-mist Domain covering the city 195.

Li Chen’s forces

In the City of Sin, Li Chen sends Ling and Eerie Monsters against the Seven Sins. Ling begins transforming Lust, and later transforms Jingang after he chooses to live 234 246. During Li Chen’s purge of the city, Ling reports that approximately fifty thousand Eerie Monsters have been born, most at the Dripping Water Realm 249.

Li Chen later unleashes the Black Mist and Forbidden Door in Huizhou City, mutating its remaining surface population; Calamity reports that some underground survivors have not undergone mutation 276. He subsequently advances on Dawn City with an orderly monster army 298.

After reaching the Wasteland Realm, Li Chen orders the Eerie Race toward human cities and commands the Eerie Monsters to assault the Four Passes. Wasteland Realm monsters lead the resulting tide 325.

Notable Eerie Beings

• Ling — An intelligent Eerie being who serves Li Chen, can learn human knowledge, and struggles to reconcile his human memories with his Eerie perspective 253 313.
• Distortion — One of the Six Eeries; an unconscious source of Eerie Monsters with distortion and mental-corruption abilities 204.
• Skeletal Eerie Monster — A sword-wielding skeleton with a soul flame. Li Chen weakens it so Mu Hen can attempt to tame it 154 155.
• The suspected “pig-raising” monster — A powerful creature observed by Li Chen during the assault on the Four Passes. He suspects it has grown strong by allowing other Eerie Monsters to mature before devouring them; this remains his conjecture 325.