readsfreenovel Chapter 234 - 140: Late Stage of Meridian Opening, Speedrunning the Forest
Chapter 234 - 140: Late Stage of Meridian Opening, Speedrunning the Forest
With that, the Ren and Du Meridians—the two vast rivers governing the body’s circulation of Qi and Blood—were completely opened!
Lin Ye felt his whole body relax. The pent-up, bloating sensation caused by his overwhelming reserves of Qi and Blood instantly dissipated by more than half!
The Ren and Du Meridians were the final and most difficult obstacles on the cultivation path for a Martial Artist of the Meridian Opening Realm.
Once they were cleared, opening the subsequent six Extraordinary Meridians would no longer be difficult. All that remained was a matter of time and effort.
But for Lin Ye, even that kind of grinding effort was unnecessary.
「In the next half hour.」
Lin Ye pressed on with unstoppable momentum, successively opening the Chong Meridian and Dai Meridian.
With that, four of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians were now open!
Lin Ye estimated that for the remaining four—the Yinwei, Yangwei, Yin Qiao, and Yang Qiao Meridians—all he needed was to gain a few more levels or increase his attributes a little.
The new Qi and Blood generated in his body would be enough to force them all open, without even needing to be refined.
In less than a single week, his realm had skyrocketed from the initial stage of the Meridian Opening Realm, directly crossing the threshold into the Late Stage of Meridian Opening!
Such progress was nothing short of miraculous!
Lin Ye slowly opened his eyes.
However, before he could even rejoice in his breakthrough, an utterly horrifying scene met his eyes.
Lin Ye felt a chill shoot up his spine to the crown of his head, and every hair on his body stood on end!
At some point, the space around him had become densely packed with figures.
They were the very same mutated beasts he had killed on his way here!
The two giant bears whose brains he had scrambled into mush were standing closest to him.
Dozens of grotesquely shaped mutated beast corpses had formed a tight ring around the spot where he sat, sealing him in completely.
They all stood silently, their empty eye sockets fixed on him in unison.
Dead silence.
A suffocating, dead silence still reigned in the forest.
These resurrected monsters were covered in writhing black filaments. The filaments even pulsed gently at an almost imperceptible frequency, as if sharing a single heartbeat.
The utterly bizarre scene instilled a primal fear in Lin Ye.
It was not a fear born from a disparity in strength.
Rather, it was the visceral, skin-crawling horror of facing a phenomenon that was completely beyond reason, something utterly incomprehensible and unknown!
’They... they’ve found me?’
Lin Ye was certain he had maintained the perfect camouflage of his [Shadow Scale] ability the entire time.
He was also absolutely certain that he had utterly destroyed the two giant bears’ brains with his Star-Piercing Spear.
There was no way they could have survived!
’How did they find this place?’
’And how did they come back to "life"?’
Lin Ye’s gaze hardened, and he cast the thoughts aside.
He tightened his grip on the Star-Piercing Spear, and in the next instant, he burst into action!
A flash of black lightning shot out!
SHLICK!
Moving with lightning speed, he once again plunged his spear into the giant bear’s shattered skull.
This time, Lin Ye saw it clearly.
Inside the hollow cranial cavity, there was no longer any brain tissue.
In its place was a dense mass of black filaments, writhing ceaselessly like tangled threadworms!
GRIND... CRACKLE...
A teeth-grating sound of grinding bones echoed.
The instant Lin Ye withdrew his spear, the bear’s pierced skull was forcibly stitched back together by innumerable black filaments.
It lunged violently at Lin Ye!
Although its movements were still somewhat slow and clumsy, the instant it stirred, all the surrounding mutated beast corpses began to move in unison, as if they had all received the same command!
They maintained perfect distance from one another, closing in on Lin Ye from all sides like a tightening net, hunting him with precision!
Lin Ye activated his [Horizontal Slash] skill. His spear lashed out like a dragon, instantly stirring up a black storm around him!
The fierce gale from his spear easily shredded the countless corpses that swarmed him.
However, it was as if these things formed a true Undead Legion.
Severed limbs were pulled back and reattached by countless black filaments gushing from the wounds before they could even hit the ground.
A monster sliced in half at the waist would have its upper and lower halves move independently to continue the attack.
Lin Ye began to deliberately target their limbs, trying to completely destroy their mobility.
But he quickly discovered that inside these corpses, the bones and flesh had long been thoroughly pierced and bound together by the black filaments.
They were no longer creatures of flesh and blood.
They were marionettes, each controlled by the black threads!
Unless they were ground into a complete pulp, they could get back up again in a matter of seconds!
Just then, Lin Ye felt the ground beneath his feet give way.
He looked down, and his pupils contracted sharply.
The very ground he stood on had, at some point, completely changed its form.
Beneath the thick layer of humus were countless writhing black filaments.
These filaments had mixed with fallen leaves, soil, and some kind of viscous black liquid to form a swamp-like trap.
These insidious black filaments shot out from the ground, trying frantically to burrow into Lin Ye’s skin and invade his flesh!
Fortunately, the dense Scale Armor formed by his [Shadow Scale] provided perfect protection.
The filaments, as tough as steel needles, couldn’t even begin to penetrate it.
BANG!
A muffled explosion suddenly went off right beside Lin Ye!
A mutated beast’s corpse had self-destructed as it neared him!
A cloud of thick, ink-black fog instantly burst outward, enveloping him!
The instant the explosion occurred, Lin Ye held his breath.
He wasn’t sure if this strange black fog was poisonous.