"Boss, boss! Stop draining me... stop draining me... you're really going to suck me dry..."
Deep within the core of the Star Dou Great Forest, in a clearing beside the Lake of Life, a plump white maggot lay limp on the ground, every fold of his fat trembling.
"Waaah... there's nothing left, nothing left, really..."
Yet the several colossal figures surrounding him showed no intention of stopping.
They were all the ferocious beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest apart from Di Tian, and they were currently siphoning his power like mad.
Xiong Jun, seething with impatience, slapped Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's fat body.
"Shut up, you damned fat maggot! Hurry up! Keep releasing the energy inside you! Stop playing dead!"
But Xiong Jun had only used the force of a slap, without employing any soul power. Otherwise, with Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's utterly subpar fighting strength, he would probably have been smashed apart on the spot.
After all,
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had "slept" his way to nearly a million years of cultivation entirely by devouring ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow. In an actual fight, he could not even defeat the weakest hundred-thousand-year soul beast.
Yet there was no such thing as a weakest hundred-thousand-year soul beast.
Soul beasts underwent a transformation of life whenever they reached ten thousand years or a hundred thousand years. Even ordinary soul beasts became powerful; only a useless creature like Sky Dream Ice Silkworm could be this weak.
Yet after receiving that slap from Xiong Jun,
a large section of Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's plump body was instantly flattened. With a "pfft," a jet of icy-blue liquid sprayed from his rear and spread across the ground, carrying an indescribably strange smell.
It was quite clearly Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's shit and piss.
"You damned fat maggot! How dare you!"
Xiong Jun looked down at the crystalline blue liquid smeared across his palm. His face instantly turned livid, fury blazing within him.
He seized the damned fat maggot and gave him another savage beating, though he kept his strength in check throughout, afraid he might actually punch through the fat maggot and make him leak from the bottom.
"No! Help! Help me! I didn't mean to!"
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm rolled all over under the beating, his fat body swinging back and forth through the air, his wails ringing across the entire core region.
"Boss, boss! I really didn't mean to! Waaah... I'm releasing it! I'm releasing it! Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me..."
The other ferocious beasts merely watched quietly, letting Sky Dream Ice Silkworm suffer Xiong Jun's savage beating.
Bi Ji frowned and spoke with some reluctance to watch. "Xiong Jun..."
Zi JI caught Bi Ji's hand, her tone level. "This fat maggot isn't behaving. A beating will straighten him out."
"But this..." Bi Ji still found it somewhat unbearable.
"Xiong Jun knows his limits," Zi JI interrupted her, her tone certain.
Bi Ji fell silent and said nothing more.
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm really was a crafty fellow. Every time, he claimed he had been sucked dry and had nothing left, but every time, it took a beating before he obediently released the power inside him.
And yet the fellow remembered the food, not the beating.
After a beating, he would behave for a while, only to return to his old tricks before long. It was enough to make their teeth itch with hatred.
But what made all the ferocious beasts grind their teeth with envy even more was his luck.
His nearly million-year cultivation had been built entirely on dumb luck.
He had once found a Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Ice Cave in the Far North, devoured every last bit of the ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow accumulated inside over who knew how many tens of thousands of years, then fallen into a long slumber. When he woke, he discovered he was already close to a million years.
How could a Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Ice Cave form so easily?
Mystic ice needed to remain buried deep underground for over ten thousand years, developing little by little under immense pressure and in extreme cold.
Though called ten-thousand-year, in truth, it took at least hundreds of thousands or even millions of years, along with a chance alignment of circumstances, for one to possibly form.
And this damned fat maggot had happened upon one and licked every last bit of the profound ice marrow inside clean.
At that moment, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was being batted back and forth like a ball beneath Xiong Jun's palms, the rumbling impacts smashing one shallow pit after another into the ground.
"Aaah! Boss, stop hitting me! Stop! You're really going to beat the shit out of me!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm wailed pitifully.
"You still dare shit!"
Xiong Jun grew even more furious, controlling his strength with precision. Every slap landed on Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's fat without damaging his foundation.
"If I don't beat you clean, I'll count that as you shitting yourself clean!"
"Aaah! No! I'll really die if you keep hitting me!"
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was beaten swollen all over, his head and ears puffed up, his head spinning and his vision swimming, every fold of his fat shaking violently.
"Then die!"
Xiong Jun sneered and continued savagely beating Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had been captured and drained by these ferocious beasts for so long, and now he was being beaten like a ball. Humiliation burrowed into his mind like a venomous snake.
What gave these bastards the right?
What gave them the right to treat him like this?
Why did he lack even the strength to fight back?
Why did he have nearly a million years of cultivation, yet could not defeat even a single hundred-thousand-year soul beast?
"Damn it... don't push me... don't push me..."
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice gradually shifted from pleading to a low growl through gritted teeth.
"You're nothing but trash. What do you think you can do?"
Xiong Jun gave a disdainful snort and brought another slap down.
In that instant, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's rage finally broke past its limit.
And with his fury, the remaining power of the ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow within him began churning wildly.
Like a great pot sealed for too long, it was finally on the verge of bursting under the pressure.
And every savage blow from Xiong Jun was like adding more firewood beneath that pot.
Still unsatisfied, Xiong Jun continued beating him like mad.
Half a day later, the power inside Sky Dream Ice Silkworm finally poured out like an erupting volcano.
Golden light suddenly burst from within him. A tenth golden marking began to form, his power surging like a tsunami, and his spiritual power underwent a complete qualitative transformation along with it.
At that moment, he truly became a million-year soul beast.
"Aaaah!!! You've bullied a man too far! No!! You've bullied a silkworm too far!"
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm roared in fury, "I'll blow up with you!"
The spiritual power that suddenly erupted during his evolution into a million-year soul beast swept outward like a raging torrent.
Xiong Jun bore the brunt of it. The spiritual impact sent him staggering several steps backward, his expression shifting slightly.
He stared at the fellow in disbelief. Had he actually broken through to become a million-year soul beast?!
The expressions of the other ferocious beasts around him also changed abruptly. They all retreated, afraid the violently swelling spiritual power might reach their spiritual origins.
Though this fellow lacked fighting strength, the sheer volume of his spiritual power was now genuinely at the million-year level.
With him unleashing it at full force, even they had no choice but to avoid its edge for the moment.
With a thunderous rumble, boundless golden light surged wildly. Even the air distorted, and the entire core region trembled.
But a moment later, the ferocious beasts abruptly discovered that
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's spiritual power fluctuations were plummeting rapidly.
"Something's wrong!"
Xiong Jun was the first to notice something amiss. He hurried forward, seized Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, whose entire body was swollen from the beating, and turned him over and over to inspect him. His face darkened completely.
"Damn it! His spiritual origin is gone! There's nothing left but a bodily shell!"
"What?!" The ferocious beasts were instantly shocked and crowded forward to confirm it.
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's corpulent body was indeed still there, but his eyes had lost all their vitality and luster, leaving only emptiness and numbness.
Like a silkworm pupa drained of its soul, all that remained was an empty shell.
Although the ferocious beasts only needed the power within his shell, without a soul, this fellow would not replenish his power on his own and let them consume his origin again.
Just then, space abruptly rippled, and a pitch-black figure slowly stepped out of a spatial rift.
A terrifying pressure surrounded him, and his icy gaze swept across everyone present.
Di Tian glanced at Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's shell on the ground, then at the expressions of the ferocious beasts around him, and immediately understood.
"When he transformed to the million-year level, he probably awakened a special ability that allowed his spiritual origin to escape from here."
Xiong Jun's clenched fists creaked, his expression utterly savage.
"That damned fat maggot-he dared make a fool of me!"
He hurled Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's shell hard onto the ground. With a dull thud, the silkworm's body lay sprawled like a puddle of sludge, taking quite some time to slowly regain its original shape.
"I'll go drag his spiritual origin back right now!"