The dark mass of Poison Sludge has "eated" to an almost instinct-driven, mechanical and greedy state. Its volume finally stabilized at the size of a water tank and did not continue to expand uncontrollably, but that was because it began to instinctively and roughly compress and condense the energy and matter it swallowed. Quality. The solid Poison Sludge that was originally the size of a washbasin, after devouring several Myriad Poison Pool essences equivalent to its own initial volume, instead "collapsed" into the denser, heavier, ink-black color it is today, almost non-reflective, and like flowing asphalt.
It lies quietly at the bottom of the pool, motionless, like a huge, irregular piece of black ooze. But inside, energy flows like a manic river. The core, which has been forced into too much and too complex energy, rotates fast and slow, emitting overwhelming subtle groans and tremors that only it can "hear". Each tremor causes subtle distortions and bubbles in the surrounding pool water.
The entire Myriad Poison Pool has completely changed its appearance.
The dark green pool water that used to be thick, deep, and containing the smell of terrifying toxicity and death has now become turbid, thin, and yellow in color, and the toxicity concentration has dropped by more than a few percent. The Yuni at the bottom of the pool is no longer the kind of paint rich in essence. Instead, the black clay has turned into an existence that is almost like ordinary river bottom sediment. The countless low-level poisonous insects that originally lived and multiplied in the pond have long since disappeared and been devoured cleanly. Even aquatic plants, fungi, and other existences that contained weak vitality were not spared.
Although Myriad Poison Pool at this moment is still much more poisonous than ordinary water, to Dugu Bo, it is probably the same as a pool of wastewater that has been looted and its essence has been lost.
Devouring is finally coming to an end.
It's not that I stopped voluntarily, but because... everything that is edible and worth eating is basically eaten. What's left is residue that is difficult to digest or has low energy quality.
An indescribable feeling of saturation, almost "full to the point", followed by a stronger sense of stagnation, confusion, swelling and pain, and a sense of crisis on the verge of losing control, slightly brought back the cold and greedy devouring consciousness.
"Stop... stop..."
A vague idea arises with difficulty in the chaotic energy flow and devouring desire.
I can't eat anymore. My body... has reached its limit. The fragile, chaotic "core" is like a skin that is filled with debris and is about to burst. Every rotation brings tearing pain and a premonition of losing control.
The devouring instinct, still driven by inertia, tried to squeeze the last bit of energy from the thin, low-quality pool water and sand around it. But the cold core consciousness began to forcefully intervene and suppress it.
"That's enough... leave... get out of here..."
The desire to leave and the persistence of the vague goal of "Star Dou" overwhelmed the pure desire to devour.
The pitch-black, viscous Poison Sludge polymer the size of a water tank began to "squirm" slowly.
Very slow. Very slow.
Different from the swiftness when swallowing, the movement at this moment seems extremely difficult and sluggish. Every move seems to be pushing a hill. The huge and chaotic energy in the body is like an untamed beast, rampaging inside the body, making the simplest shape changes and movements extremely difficult and accompanied by severe pain.
But it must leave. Before that terrifying human comes back.
It is no longer the previous "auxiliary suppression of swallowing fluctuations", but has returned to its most essential function - concealment, silence, and erasure of one's own sense of existence.
An extremely weak layer of dark halo, almost integrated with the surrounding turbid water, covered the surface of Poison Sludge. The violent and chaotic energy fluctuations inside were forcibly suppressed, absorbed, and smoothed by this layer of halo. Only an undetectable faint breath similar to ordinary corrupt substances dissipated outward.
Just like a fat man who has had enough to eat and drink, but has indigestion and staggers around, he still has to try to pretend that nothing is wrong and move carefully.
From the bottom of the pool, to the wall of the pool, to... the mouth of the pool.
This process took far longer than swallowing. Every movement was accompanied by difficult control of the energy in the body.
Finally, at the edge of the turbid and yellowish pool water, a thick, almost non-reflective, black crude oil-like substance slowly "flowed" out of the water and silently "climbed" up the edge of the Myriad Poison Pool Rock, which was corroded by the poisonous water.
There was no earth-shattering momentum, no overflowing energy.
There was only a puddle of sticky, thick, slowly creeping black ooze, exuding an extremely uncomfortable atmosphere of silence and corruption, quietly leaving the quagmire that once terrified it and also "feasted" it.
When it was completely out of the water, the sunlight (even though it was weakly filtered by the poisonous miasma and branches and leaves above Sunset Forest) shone on this black mud, with not much reflection. The light seemed to be absorbed by it, making it even more dark and inexplicable.
It "lying" quietly on Rock, seemingly adapting to the air and sunlight, and seeming to be sensing its surroundings.
Within the body, the energy chaos remains, and the sense of crisis that the core is on the verge of collapse has not diminished at all. However, the basic sense of full energy brought by "having eaten enough" and the sense of relief from leaving the dangerous quagmire have given rise to a faint clarity of "action" in its cold consciousness.
Target... Leave Sunset Forest. Go to...Star Dou.
It "perceives" the surroundings. The breath of the forest. The breath of Soul Beast. The breath of plants. And... the breath of human carriages?
Yes, I vaguely sensed before that there seemed to be moving "things" belonging to humans on the periphery of Sunset Forest, with rolling wheels and the smell of livestock. Maybe... they were carriers that could be "ridden".
direction...
It once again "recalled" those broken, fuzzy fragments of "map" and "direction". Sunset Forest...Heaven Dou City...Balaque...Star Dou Forest... Although it was confusing, a general "feeling" pointing to the southwest was clear.
Go to the southwest. Go to the place with those "carriages". Then... get out of here.
The goal is clear. Even though the physical condition is extremely poor, even though the future is uncertain.
The pool of black sticky Poison Sludge, which was the size of a water tank and slowly crawled, began to "flow" and "crawl" toward the periphery and southwest direction of the forest it "felt" at an extremely slow but extremely firm speed.
The way it moves is very strange. It does not move as a whole, but like a real soft-bodied creature, the front end "extends" a small part, like a tentacle, "drapes" on the ground, fallen leaves or low plants in front, and then the whole thing "flows" past. Wherever it passes, the ground is corroded with faint traces of a faint fishy smell, and the grass and trees quickly wither and rot, leaving behind an inconspicuous, but winding and twisted "path" full of lifeless atmosphere.
This "path" is very narrow, and in the vast, complex environment of Sunset Forest, which is full of danger and death, it is almost difficult to detect. Unless someone deliberately follows it, or happens to step on it.
It was like a huge and clumsy black octopus that quietly crawled out of the turbid mire, except that it had no arms and legs, only a pool of viscous body that was constantly squirming and deforming, moving slowly, silently and firmly, toward the outside of the forest, toward that vague goal, and began its long and dangerous migration.
Behind him is Myriad Poison Pool, which has been "emptied", a pool of stagnant water, silently recording the silent plunder that happened in the past.
Ahead lies the crisis-ridden Sunset Forest, and a more distant journey.