Hundred-Foot Centipede (Please Bookmark)

Crack.

At that moment, a sound like shattering glass rang out beside Master Taiyi's ear.

The night wind, tinged with the smell of blood, drifted gently past.

In a daze, the lush jungle before him suddenly vanished.

In its place lay a vast plain.

The boundless white snowfield was littered with ruined walls and broken remnants.

The air was a hazy gray. Willow-catkin-sized snowflakes drifted down from the sky, while countless gray floating particles gathered and scattered from time to time.

Some dark red withered trees stretched their branches like demons, baring fangs and brandishing claws.

In the occasional patches not covered by snow, dark green, damp soil could still be seen, emanating an intense sense of filth.

Beyond that, when he looked into the distance—

Herd after herd of snow-white cattle slowly passed before his eyes across the grassland.

These bison were no different from ordinary bison, except that they were covered in gray floating matter, and even their fur and flesh had begun to rot.

They looked filthy. Some of the bison had nothing but pitch-black hollows for eyes, emitting faint gray vapor.

Gurgle, gurgle...

The gray vapor gathered together and converged overhead, forming a massive black lump of flesh dozens of meters across, like a tumor.

Thick blood vessels crisscrossed its surface, constantly twitching as though it were nurturing something.

Even Master Taiyi, who had lived for nearly a century, had never heard of such a bizarre sight.

"Have any of you noticed anything?"

He turned around, only to discover that at some unknown point, everything behind him had become a vast expanse of white. The monk warriors traveling with him had long since disappeared.

Only Master Taiyi remained on the empty grassland.

Splat!

Like an overripe, rotten berry falling to the ground, a nauseating stench spread through the air.

The enormous tumor-like Flesh Mass in the sky suddenly split apart, pouring out torrents of black, foul-smelling blood.

A circular maw densely packed with sharp teeth abruptly shot out from within and lunged at Master Taiyi.

"Six Roots Purified!"

In an unfamiliar environment, facing an unknown enemy.

Even in such peril, Master Taiyi remained fearless.

With a thunderous shout, rings of golden light erupted from his body.

His thin, withered frame rapidly swelled. His cassock tore apart, and within just a few breaths, the short, aged monk expanded to nearly two meters tall.

His muscles resembled rocks and ancient trees, gleaming faintly with a metallic luster.

His two golden palms spread apart and braced firmly against the monster before him. His tree-root-thick legs instantly sank halfway into the earth, carving a long trench across the ground.

Boom!

A faint ripple spread through the air, and a dull metallic clash echoed across the empty plain.

Back in the primeval forest.

Renguang watched his master's face suddenly flush crimson, and a terrible feeling rose in his heart.

"Master, you're hurt?"

He raised a hand and sent a stream of pure Buddhist light into the old monk's body.

Whoosh!

The old monk abruptly opened his eyes. His face twisted into a savage expression, his eyes bloodshot, making him look like a vicious ghost.

"Run!"

he roared.

Without another word, he struck backward with his palm, sending the still-confused Renguang flying with overwhelming force.

"Master..."

Renguang landed on the ground, his face blank with bewilderment as he looked toward the old monk.

Then he saw the void deep within the forest suddenly twist and crack apart.

A gigantic pitch-black centipede opened its jaws and abruptly appeared directly in front of Master Taiyi.

At that moment, Red Moon's power also reached its peak. Dense blood-colored moonlight gathered into a pillar and descended from the sky onto the centipede, reflecting a cold metallic gleam.

Crack!

The enormous maw, bristling with sharp fangs, clamped down tightly on the old monk's body as its powerful jaws closed.

A crisp crack rang out.

Master Taiyi stopped struggling. A great gush of viscous blood dripped from his mouthparts onto the ground, trailing strands of dark-red fluid.

The sudden turn of events stunned everyone.

It was only when the thick scent of rust rode the night wind into his nostrils that Renguang finally reacted.

He stared at the enormous centipede, bathed in bloodlight and nearly a hundred meters long from head to tail. Yet when he saw his master's mangled corpse, he had no time to grieve.

"Run!"

Renguang shouted to the others.

At the same time, he pulled a pitch-black bundle from his robes and hurled it in the opposite direction with all his strength.

It was beast bait specially made to lure yokai. Yet the centipede seemed to have little interest in it and did not launch an attack on them.

Instead, it turned around, moved its tens of thousands of sharp jointed legs, and headed deeper into the primeval forest.

Dust billowed in its wake. Ancient trees along both sides of its path toppled one after another, while beasts fled in panic.

The enormous black centipede gradually vanished into the distance.

Only then did the monks and warriors hiding far away and suppressing their auras slowly breathe out, their tense muscles relaxing.

The night breeze blew softly, carrying waves of chill.

After the giant centipede, more than a hundred meters long, had gone far enough away, they realized their backs were already soaked with cold sweat.

"Th-That was a yokai too!?"

The leader of the warriors was a young man named Toma.

As he looked at the nightmare-like colossal creature beneath the Blood Moon, even this battle-hardened warrior could not hide his shock.

"That was the Hundred-Foot Centipede."

Renguang forcefully suppressed his grief and slowly explained, "Legend has it that when Moon Country was first founded a century ago, five Limit-Breaking Great Yokai existed on these plains. They possessed unmatched power and brought endless disaster and terror to the people of Moon Country."

"That's absurd."

This was not exactly a secret, but for the sake of Moon Country's stable development, it had never been widely publicized.

As a result, many people today knew nothing about it.

"Then how did those Great Yokai disappear?"

The Hundred-Foot Centipede they had just seen was nearly a hundred meters long. With such a massive body, not even Moon Country's sturdy walls could have stopped it.

"Some of the Great Yokai were sealed away or driven off by Moon Country's first generation of sages at the cost of their lives. Others vanished without a trace, as though they had disappeared into thin air."

"The Hundred-Foot Centipede was one of the Limit-Breaking Great Yokai that vanished back then."

As he spoke, an uncontrollable look of grief appeared on Renguang's face. On the ground, Master Taiyi's remains were slowly dissolving in the poisonous mist, merging with the soil.

There were far too many strange aspects to this.

The Hundred-Foot Centipede was one of the most powerful yokai recorded in Moon Country.

Its yokai aura surged like the tides; even from tens of thousands of meters away, it could be sensed clearly.

Yet just now—

From beginning to end, he had not sensed a single trace connected to the Hundred-Foot Centipede.

This Great Yokai had appeared as if from nowhere. It was utterly inconceivable.

"Oh no!"

A warrior's shrill, distorted cry jolted Renguang from his thoughts. He looked up to see Toma's face deathly pale, one hand pointing at the black smoke rising from within the forest.

"That giant centipede is heading toward Moon Country!"