The Spirit Beast Senior with Terminal Cancer

His hobbies and personality are a mystery, his taboos often change, and even his appearance is varied—is this a spirit beast senior with the ability to shapeshift, and who changes his personality every time he transforms?

Thus, with doubts in his heart, Song Shuhang followed the Miss Jiudeng onto the dock, along the long official road, until they arrived in front of a huge palace.

The palace was incredibly luxurious, like a celestial palace, unlike anything found in the mortal world.

There were no guards at the entrance to the palace.

Jiudeng then led him directly into the hall.

Upon entering the main hall, Song Shuhang saw rows of musical instruments on both sides of the hall, including zithers, pipa, bells, and various other ancient musical instruments.

These instruments were played without anyone playing them, yet the strings moved automatically and the bells rang spontaneously, creating melodious music—it was truly magical.

In front of the palace, there was a huge platform. The platform was covered with more than ten layers of thick animal fur, which looked very soft and comfortable.

Then, a bolt of lightning lay motionless on the high platform.

If you look closely, you can see the shape of a round pig within this ball of lightning, even rounder than the one on the Chinese Parasol Tree at the valley entrance.

"Tsk, is it in pig form today?" the Miss Jiudeng murmured.

The pig form is one of the thirty-six forms of this spirit beast predecessor, and it's one of the more troublesome ones.

On the high platform, the giant boar wrapped in lightning slightly opened its eyes, glanced at the Miss Jiudeng and Song Shuhang, and then... it closed its eyes again.

"Senior, I've come to find you!" the Miss Jiudeng shouted loudly to the spirit beast on the platform.

The giant boar opened its eyes slightly again, opened its mouth, but made no sound.

The 'angry vein' on Jiudeng's forehead reappeared faintly. He took a deep breath and said, "Senior Heavenly Thunder Pig, Jiudeng has come to see you!"

The giant pig opened its eyes again, seemingly trying hard to look at Jiudeng: "Oh."

After saying "Oh," the giant pig stirred for a moment, then said, "It's Jiudeng."

After a while, the giant pig, panting, said, "Jiudeng, please don't bother Senior whether you have something to say or not, okay? Senior... I'm sick."

Two veins bulged on Jiudeng's forehead in anger. "Senior, what illness do you have?"

"Senior, I have been diagnosed with an incurable disease." The giant pig gasped for breath, his breathing becoming labored and labored even after just a few words.

Can powerful spirit beasts also get sick? Song Shuhang wondered.

"What terminal illness?" The veins on Jiudeng's forehead calmed down slightly.

"It's cancer." The giant pig gave a bitter smile. "This disease is terrifying."

"Are you kidding me!" the Miss Jiudeng roared. "You, a dignified Seventh-Grade Spirit Beast Venerable, where on earth are you going to get cancer so you can live with it for fun?"

This seemingly enormous pig was actually a Seventh-Grade Venerable, on par with the Venerable White.

"I didn't mean to lie to you," the giant pig said, its eyes filled with sorrow, as if it were about to die at any moment.

Song Shuhang asked curiously, "What kind of cancer?"

Jiudeng rubbed his forehead vigorously, then clasped his hands together and silently recited scriptures.

The giant pig sighed heavily, "It's a kind of cancer called laziness cancer, and it's already in its late stages; there's no cure."

Song Shuhang: "..."

"Lazy my foot! Last time you said there was something wrong with your chrysanthemum and you wanted to change your name to Chrysanthemum Pig... Pfft..." Before the Miss Jiudeng could finish speaking, a large pit suddenly appeared under her feet, and she fell in.

"Ahhhhhh!" The scream of the Miss Jiudeng echoed, growing fainter and fainter in the distance.

This pit seems quite deep. Moreover, it must have been equipped with some kind of anti-flight formation, so that once she fell in, she couldn't fly back up.

After the Miss Jiudeng fell, with a 'thud,' a stone slab above the pit moved back and covered the huge hole.

"Cough cough, what a lazybones. I clearly told her last time to keep quiet here, to be silent, and not to shout. Why can't she remember?" The lazy Heavenly Thunder Pig muttered to himself, placing a remote control for a mechanism in his paw.

Song Shuhang: "..."

After dealing with the Miss Jiudeng, the Heavenly Thunder Pig's tiny eyes turned back to Song Shuhang: "Little guy, who are you?"

"Junior Song Shuhang greets senior." Song Shuhang bowed respectfully.

Heavenly Thunder Pig tapped its head with its paw.

After a long pause, it asked curiously, "Do we know each other?"

Song Shuhang shook his head. "This junior was brought here by Miss Jiudeng, and this is the first time I've met you, senior."

"Oh." Heavenly Thunder Pig nodded silently, then closed its eyes and prepared to go to sleep.

Song Shuhang: "..."

Fortunately, Heavenly Thunder Pig immediately opened its eyes again. "So, little girl Jiudeng brought you here to see me. Is there something you want to ask me for?"

"Yes, she wanted to bring the younger generation here to see if she could obtain a withered Dragonbone Withered Vine from the senior," Song Shuhang replied sincerely.

Before knowing this senior's personality or taboos, it's best to be sincere.

"Dragonbone Withered Vine? Oh, so you're after that Flood Dragon skeleton I have in my collection." Heavenly Thunder Pig chuckled, then waved its paw. "Little guy, you can have the Dragonbone Withered Vine, but my laziness has flared up again, and I need to rest and recuperate. How about you come back next time? Next time, I'll just give it to you; it's not worth much anyway."

Song Shuhang: "..."

"By the way, don't just stand there staring at me. I won't be able to sleep if someone's staring at me," the Heavenly Thunder Pig said, waving its paws as if to scare people away.

After thinking for a moment, Song Shuhang asked, "Senior, when do I need to come next?"

"Three hundred years from now, this time I'm going to sleep my fill—no, this time I'm going to defeat my illness and eradicate my laziness!" Heavenly Thunder Pig said through gritted teeth.

Song Shuhang: "..."

These highly skilled predecessors are just capricious; they can sleep for three hundred years.

But three hundred years from now, he might be reduced to ashes, and Su Clan’s Sixteen couldn't possibly wait three hundred years.

So, Song Shuhang cautiously asked, "Senior, how can I obtain the Dragonbone Withered Vine ahead of time?"

Heavenly Thunder Pig slightly opened its eyes and sighed, "As long as you don't disturb me."

Song Shuhang gritted his teeth and asked, "Senior, what exactly do I need to do?"

"It means exactly what it says!" Heavenly Thunder Pig exclaimed.

Song Shuhang knew exactly what it meant, but he couldn't wait three hundred years. So, Song Shuhang stared intently at the enormous body of the Heavenly Thunder Pig, not even blinking.

Heavenly Thunder Pig: "..."

The next moment, it reached out and pressed the remote control next to it.

Song Shuhang a chill run down his spine. This was a trap remotely controlled by someone who had suddenly appeared and swallowed up the Miss Jiudeng. So he quickly jumped to the side!

"Naive." Heavenly Thunder Pig sneered.

The next moment, the entire floor of the hall was completely hollowed out, revealing a bottomless abyss beneath.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh..." Song Shuhang screamed as he fell into the hole.

"Ah... I can finally get a good night's sleep. I'm sure I'll sleep for three hundred years." Heavenly Thunder Pig murmured, reaching out to press the remote control again, and the ground that had been emptied quickly returned to normal.

Then, Heavenly Thunder Pig closed its eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

Lightning crackled and popped across its body.

The dazzling lightning gradually dissipated, revealing a deep, bone-revealing wound on the other side of the Heavenly Thunder Pig. Black mist swirled around the wound, preventing it from healing.

The lightning was so dazzling that even the Miss Jiudeng didn't notice the injuries on its body.

******************************

Song Shuhang felt his body constantly falling, falling, as if this abyss had no bottom.

"Could it be that I'll just keep falling and fall off 'Heavenly Island' forever?" he thought to himself.

Just as he was thinking this, suddenly, his body felt light and he floated upwards.

After floating for about an inch, it slowly landed.

The sensation of loose stones beneath my feet.

Is that the end?

Just then, the girl with the lamp came from the side, her voice faint and eerie. "You were thrown down too, huh?"

Song Shuhang turned to look in the direction of the sound. In the darkness, she could vaguely see Jiudeng's bald head. She was sitting cross-legged on the ground, looking distressed.

"Miss Jiudeng." Upon seeing her, Song Shuhang felt a sense of relief. "How are we going to get out?"

"Once that fat pig has had enough sleep, it will let us out. It was the same last time," the Miss Jiudeng said quietly, sounding very experienced.

Song Shuhang: "..."

Song Shuhang: "Speaking of which, that Heavenly Thunder Pig senior just said that this time it's going to fight its laziness to the death and sleep for three hundred years."

"Three hundred years? Are you kidding me!" The veins on the Miss Jiudeng's forehead bulged with anger again. "What else did it tell you?"

Song Shuhang then recounted his conversation with Senior Heavenly Thunder Pig.

"Damn it! Even if it's going to sleep for three hundred years, at least let me out first! I'll remember this grudge! When I one day advance to the Seventh-Grade Venerable Realm, I'll make it sleep once a year, for a whole year each time, and never wake up again!" Jiudeng gritted his teeth and roared angrily.

"Miss Jiudeng, is it impossible to climb out of this hole?" Song Shuhang asked in confusion.

"The cave walls are covered with restrictions carved by that fat pig; we can't climb out," Jiudeng said dejectedly. "Moreover, there's a powerful Flight-Banning Formation. Unless you have the strength of Seventh-Grade Spirit Venerable, even if you have ten pairs of wings, you can't fly."

"Could there be a hidden exit here?" Song Shuhang wondered.

"When I fell down last time, I searched every inch of this place, but I couldn't find any secret passages at all," Miss Jiudeng, resting her chin on her hand, looking frustrated.

"Then how do we get out? Do we really have to wait three hundred years?"

"Don't worry, I came prepared this time," said the Miss Jiudeng, pointing to her pale blue monk's robe. "The reason I changed my clothes before coming here was to deal with this kind of situation!"

As she spoke, she began to remove her blue and white monk's robes.

Song Shuhang quickly covered his eyes...