Chapter 65: Black Miasma
The trembling was deafening to the ears of everyone around, an ominous drumbeat that reverberated through the ground, shaking loose debris, dislodging rocks, and making the very air tremble.
Zou Fang could barely stand, his legs weak as he gritted his teeth, his breath short and uneven.
Red'Ribbon, on the other hand, was silent, his lips pressed together in a tight line, his fingers flexing as if preparing to either fight or flee.
The beasts tainted by Demonic Dao essence, the very creatures that had been mercilessly giving them pressure, now stood frozen in place, their grotesque forms unmoving, their twisted expressions devoid of the hunger and malice they had carried just moments before.
Their feral instincts had warned them—something far worse had arrived.
The rumbling deepened, each impact against the earth sending a pulse of force through the surroundings.
Louder and louder, the sheer power behind each approaching step increased, an overwhelming, oppressive force pressing against everything in its path.
Trees swayed, birds scattered, and the ground cracked beneath the growing pressure of an unseen force.
Zou Fang swallowed hard, sweat running down his temple, his fingers trembling.
Then, the beasts turned.
They no longer looked at Zou Fang and Red'Ribbon.
It was as if the two cultivators had ceased to exist, insignificant specks in the vast expanse of something greater.
The Demonic Dao-tainted creatures, once consumed by relentless aggression, now seemed to acknowledge a hierarchy they had no choice but to obey.
Their heads twisted, eyes locked onto the source of the sound, and in perfect unison, they roared and charged toward the encroaching presence.
Then they saw him.
Wei Long.
His monstrous form emerged from the darkness, the bio-engineered dinosaur's body brimming with raw, unrestrained violence.
His presence was no longer that of a beast merely hunting for survival—it was of something much worse.
His eyes, once filled with cunning, were now wild and furious.
His lips curled back, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth dripping with saliva.
His nostrils flared, inhaling the scent of the cursed creatures before him, and his claws twitched with eager anticipation.
And then, hell was unleashed.
Wei Long tore through the first Demonic Dao beast with terrifying ease.
His massive jaw clamped down upon its body, splintering bones and rupturing flesh in a single bite.
The creature screeched in agony, but it was brief—Wei Long's jaws twisted and ripped its torso apart with grotesque efficiency, its mangled remains scattering in the wind.
Black blood sprayed in wide arcs, painting the surroundings in a horrifying display of deathly carnage.
The other creatures hesitated, their instincts screaming at them to flee, but their tainted essence demanded they fight.
Another lunged at him, its claws gleaming with dark energy, but Wei Long was faster.
A swipe of his tail shattered its ribcage, sending the beast careening into a nearby tree with such force that its spine snapped on impact.
It howled in pain, writhing on the ground, but Wei Long did not grant mercy.
He stomped down upon its skull, crushing it beneath his weight.
The sickening crunch was followed by silence, and then more screams.
Wei Long's fury did not wane—it only grew.
He rampaged through the horde with methodical brutality, using every ounce of his engineered strength to dismantle his enemies.
His claws sheared through flesh like wet parchment, his teeth tore through sinew as if it were nothing more than fragile twine.
He whipped his tail, sending two more creatures flying, their bodies colliding mid-air before crashing into jagged rocks below.
A third beast leapt at him from above, but with a single upward snap of his head, he caught it in his jaws and twisted violently, tearing its head clean from its shoulders.
Zou Fang and Red'Ribbon could do nothing but watch, frozen in horror.
They had seen battles before, had fought against ferocious creatures, but this—this was different.
This was not a fight.
This was annihilation.
This was a massacre.
Wei Long roared, his voice shaking the heavens, his eyes ablaze with an insatiable wrath.
His body moved with primal grace, each motion calculated yet overflowing with unchecked savagery.
He did not merely kill—he desecrated.
He made the beasts suffer.
He made them understand their insignificance.
He made them fear.
The remaining creatures attempted to flee, but it was too late.
Wei Long pursued with relentless speed, his massive body a blur of lethal precision.
One beast barely managed to turn before his talons raked across its side, splitting its torso open in a single, fluid move.
Another, thinking itself safe in the distance, was caught by a hurled boulder the size of a carriage, its bones shattering upon impact.
The last few tried to scatter in all directions, but Wei Long charged, his rampage leaving a trail of destruction behind him.
One by one, they fell.
One by one, they were erased.
One by one, they were devoured.
Zou Fang clutched his chest, his breath shallow.
Red'Ribbon had a deathly pale expression, his eyes locked onto the carnage.
The blood, the viscera, the sheer brutality—it was beyond anything they could have imagined.
And then, it was over.
The ground was soaked with blood. Limbs and shattered remains lay scattered like broken dolls.
The stench of death permeates thick in the air.
Wei Long stood in the center of it all, his body heaving with each heavy breath.
His claws dripped with the life he had stolen, his mouth still smeared with the remnants of his enemies.
He turned slightly, as if searching for more prey, his gaze sweeping the land, his expression unfulfilled.
That was when Zou Fang and Red'Ribbon realized.
They were still here.
They had stayed too long.
Wei Long's gaze flickered toward them, and the air grew impossibly heavy.
Zou Fang's heart nearly stopped. Red'Ribbon's fists clenched involuntarily.
They had to leave.
They had to run.
Without a word, without hesitation, they turned and bolted in the opposite direction.
Their feet pounded against the blood-soaked earth, their lungs burning, their minds screaming.
The only thought that consumed them was escape—escape before the beast they once called Wei Long decided that they, too, were prey.
And behind them, standing amidst the ruined battlefield, Wei Long let out a final, satisfied exhale, his fury momentarily sated.
However, deep within his mind, Wei Long's consciousness stirred.
He chuckled.
"What luck for these two…!"
…
Not long, Wei Long reached the two after dealing with the rest of the beast afflicted by demonic dao essence.
His heavy steps crushed the ground beneath him, each impact reverberating like the toll of a massive war drum.
Zou Fang trembled, his entire body paralyzed with fear, his mind failing to process anything except survival.
He fell to his knees, his breath uneven, his hands clasped together in desperation.
"Please! Wei Long! I—I was wrong! I was wrong to call you my tamed beast! You are greater than any of us! Please spare me! You can do whatever you want! You can make me serve you instead! You can make me your servant! No, your follower! Your most devoted believer!"
His voice cracked as he pleaded, his face streaked with tears.
"If you wish, I'll crawl! I'll bow! I'll give you anything! Just let me live! Just let me live!"
But Wei Long did not stop.
He continued forward, his form towering like an unstoppable force of nature, his eyes still burning with that cold, distant, yet all-consuming madness.
Zou Fang's desperation only grew.
He flung himself to the ground, groveling before the monstrous being.
"Please! You're not like those mindless beasts! You have wisdom! You have power! You—you don't need to kill me! You don't need to! I swear, I swear I'll follow you to the ends of the earth!"
His fingers dug into the dirt, his forehead pressing against the cold ground as his entire body quaked with pitiful sobs.
"Spare me! I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I'll do anything!"
Red'Ribbon, however, simply watched.
Unlike Zou Fang, he did not beg. He did not plead. He merely sighed and straightened himself.
Though his contract with Zou Fang had elevated him to a Pseudo-Unique class of beast, it was clear that such power meant nothing now.
"Enough, Zou Fang." Red'Ribbon's voice was low, calm, yet somehow filled with the weight of inevitability. "If it ends here, then so be it."
Zou Fang's head snapped toward him, his eyes wide with disbelief. "What?! Are you insane?! Fight back! We have to do something!"
Red'Ribbon shook his head. "We had our chances. We made our choices. And now, we pay the price."
As if acknowledging his decision, Wei Long's enormous claws slammed into Red'Ribbon, pinning him to the ground.
There was no resistance, no struggle.
Red'Ribbon merely exhaled, closing his eyes as if surrendering to the inevitable.
Zou Fang screamed in horror. "No! No! Please!"
Wei Long's jaws opened, his teeth gleaming with lethal intent.
He lowered his head, his mouth coming closer and closer to Red'Ribbon's neck.
The pressure in the air grew thick, suffocating.
Zou Fang couldn't even bring himself to move anymore.
Then, suddenly—Wei Long froze.
His entire body stiffened.
His jaws, mere inches from Red'Ribbon's neck, did not snap shut. His eyes, wild and murderous, flickered.
A strange, black miasma began to seep out of his massive form, spiraling and writhing like living shadows.
Zou Fang gasped as the miasma thickened, swallowing Wei Long's form entirely.
It was as if the darkness itself had taken hold of him, warping and twisting in unpredictable patterns.
Red'Ribbon, still beneath the weight of the beast, barely opened his eyes, catching sight of the strange phenomenon.
The sheer malevolence of the miasma was suffocating.
It was thick, dense, and felt almost like a living entity, pulsating with a power neither of them could comprehend.
The black miasma grew denser, shrouding Wei Long completely.
The ground trembled.
The air shuddered.
And then—silence.
An agonizing, excruciatingly long silence.
A silence that stretched beyond time itself.
Seconds.
Minutes.
Hours.
They couldn't tell.
The swirling abyss of miasma consumed their very sense of reality, making them question if they were still even alive.
Then, without warning—the darkness dispersed.
Wei Long stood there, his form returned to that of a humanoid beast, no longer the towering ground dragon that had instilled so much fear.
His features were sharp, his expression bewildered, as if he himself had no idea what had just occurred.
His hands flexed instinctively, feeling no longer the monstrous claws of the bio-engineered terror, but his own hands—human-like, familiar, yet foreign all at once.
And then—he exhaled.
A single word escaped his lips.
A word so simple, so mundane, yet in this moment, it was the most absurd thing that either Zou Fang or Red'Ribbon could have ever imagined.
"Huh?"
Silence stretched once more, but this time, it was different.
It was the silence of disbelief, of confusion, of sheer incomprehension.
Zou Fang and Red'Ribbon simply stared at him, their minds unable to process what had just happened.
Wei Long blinked.
He looked down at his own hands, then back at the two figures before him.
"What... just happened?"
Zou Fang's mouth opened, then closed. Then opened again. But no words came out.
Even Red'Ribbon, usually composed, had nothing to say.
Because at that moment, nothing made sense anymore.
However, one thing is for sure.
Wei Long, the one they know is back!
What do you think?
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