Forty-Nine Grilling Sessions for a Vegetative Beast

The Chameleon Stealth Dragon lay on the grill with a look of utter despair.

It could clearly feel the searing heat of the Black Flame scorching its skin from below. It could also feel its flesh slowly changing from raw to cooked beneath the flames.

It wanted to roar in agony, but not a sound came out. Worse still, its claws no longer obeyed it, voluntarily picking up the bottles and jars beside it and continuously smearing things all over its body. An enticing fragrance wafted from it, enough to make mouths water. Even the Chameleon Stealth Dragon itself wanted to take a bite.

Ye Zhiqiu stood to the side the entire time, watching with a smile and making no unnecessary movements. Yet in the Chameleon Stealth Dragon's heart, he had already been branded a devil.

This human child was too terrifying. It scared the beast to death.

Logically speaking, with its body already roasted through, the Chameleon Stealth Dragon should have died long ago. Yet the fear in its eerie green eyes showed that it could still think. It still knew fear.

That was what made Tsukuyomi so terrifying.

After struggling on the grill for several hours, the Chameleon Stealth Dragon finally could not endure any longer.

As its consciousness slowly blurred, it thought that perhaps dying like this would not be such a bad ending. The sensation of Black Flame roasting its body was simply too agonizing.

However, nothing ended as it had expected.

When the Chameleon Stealth Dragon regained consciousness, it found that its body was completely unharmed. But why was it still lying on that all-too-familiar grill? Why were those terrifying seasonings still beside it? "Surprised? Unexpected? Don't panic. You still have three days and three nights—forty-nine grilling sessions—waiting for you. Take it slow." Ye Zhiqiu spoke teasingly and winked at the Chameleon Stealth Dragon. Though his words were meant to lighten the mood, they sent a chill through its entire body.

As Ye Zhiqiu finished speaking, the Black Flame beneath the grill flared up once more. The Chameleon Stealth Dragon experienced that unbearable sensation of wishing for life but being unable to die again.

The first time, the Chameleon Stealth Dragon had held out for several hours before losing consciousness. This time, it lasted less than an hour before its awareness blurred again. Its spiritual will had already been shattered beyond repair by Ye Zhiqiu's torment.

Three days and three nights had passed in the Tsukuyomi World, but only a single second had gone by in reality.

Ever since its consciousness had been pulled into the Tsukuyomi World by Ye Zhiqiu, the Chameleon Stealth Dragon's ability to change its body color had failed, exposing it directly before the group.

Seeing that the Chameleon Stealth Dragon had come within ten meters of Ye Zhiqiu and Ning Rongrong, Sword Douluo had been about to strike and sever its tongue. Yet he waited and waited, only to find that the Chameleon Stealth Dragon never extended it.

Sword Douluo only heard Ye Zhiqiu softly utter the two words, "Tsukuyomi," before the Chameleon Stealth Dragon froze in place. Ye Zhiqiu froze as well.

"Ah~!" The instant Ning Rongrong saw the Chameleon Stealth Dragon, she let out a high-pitched scream that carried far through the nighttime Soul Hunting Forest.

"Drip."

One second passed.

Having just emerged from the Tsukuyomi World, Ye Zhiqiu was startled by Ning Rongrong's loud voice. Just as he was about to tease her a little, an intense pain suddenly spread through his left eye.

Ye Zhiqiu let out a muffled groan and reflexively raised his left hand to cover his eye.

"Damn, I nearly forgot about the Mangekyo backlash." Ye Zhiqiu cursed inwardly. The pain in his left eye made him feel miserable, and he bent over slightly, his body curled like a cooked prawn.

Blood slowly trickled through the gap between his palm and cheek, like a bloody tear.

Seeing this, Ning Rongrong no longer cared about being afraid of the motionless Chameleon Stealth Dragon. She hurried forward and supported Ye Zhiqiu. "Are you okay?" she asked anxiously.

When she reached his front and saw blood gushing from his eye, she became so worried that she was nearly in tears, not knowing what to do.

At some point, Sword Douluo suddenly appeared beside them. He first glanced at the Chameleon Stealth Dragon. After confirming that it truly seemed incapable of moving, he turned a thoughtful gaze toward Ye Zhiqiu. Was this some special soul skill? This little fellow was bringing him more and more surprises.

By then, Ye Zhiqiu had recovered slightly. The pain in his eye had come quickly and faded just as quickly. However, the streak of blood that had flowed from his eye stained half his face, making him look somewhat frightening.

"Little fellow, I don't know what happened, but this move of yours seems to have quite a severe backlash. It would be best to use it less in the future." Sword Douluo glanced at the blood trailing from Ye Zhiqiu's eye and his somewhat unfocused left eye, then gave him a quiet warning.

As Ye Zhiqiu casually wiped the blood from his cheek, he replied indifferently, "Grandpa Sword, I know what I'm doing. Things were urgent just now. I didn't know this was the kind of soul beast that had come, otherwise—"

"Otherwise what? You were going to rush up and fight it hand-to-hand?" Once Ning Rongrong saw that Ye Zhiqiu truly seemed fine, she relaxed a little. But seeing how unconcerned he looked made her angry, and she could not help snapping at him.

Though Ning Rongrong was rather proud and temperamental, her body was honest. At that moment, she took out a handkerchief and helped Ye Zhiqiu wipe the blood from his face.

Ye Zhiqiu smiled helplessly. He truly had planned to wait until the soul beast lurking in the shadows came closer, then open the first three gates of the Eight Gates of Dunjia and fight it in close combat. The feeling of every blow landing flesh-to-flesh was a man's romance.

But Ye Zhiqiu had not expected the creature that came to be this kind of semi-ranged attacking soul beast.

Left with no choice, he had used the Mangekyo's Tsukuyomi. It was the ability granted to his left eye after awakening the Mangekyo. It could directly pull the consciousness of any opponent who looked into his eyes into an Other Space and torment them there. Within that Other Space, he, its master, was an invincible existence. Breaking the move was simple as well: one only needed several times more Spiritual Power than him to forcibly shatter the Other Space and break free.

"What happened to this big lizard?" After curiously looking at the unmoving Chameleon Stealth Dragon, Ning Rongrong asked Ye Zhiqiu.

Sword Douluo also looked over with an interested expression. Even he could not tell where this soul beast had been injured.

It was clearly still breathing, yet it lay there without moving an inch. That was not at all like the style of a ferocious soul beast such as a Chameleon Stealth Dragon.

Ye Zhiqiu smiled. "Have you ever heard of a vegetative state?"

"A vegetative state? A person transformed from a plant?" Ning Rongrong asked, looking confused.

"Uh..." Ye Zhiqiu's face darkened. What the hell did she mean, a person transformed from a plant?

"A vegetative state is when someone's body appears no different from an ordinary person's, but their consciousness has basically died. This Chameleon Stealth Dragon is in that state now. You can think of it as having become a Vegetative Beast." Ye Zhiqiu rubbed Ning Rongrong's little head and explained this basic common knowledge to her.

Ning Rongrong looked enlightened and nodded as if she half understood.

Ye Zhiqiu had no idea whether she had truly understood. Now, it was time to give the Chameleon Stealth Dragon its final blow and absorb its soul ring.

His first soul ring was about to arrive, and Ye Zhiqiu felt somewhat excited.