Chapter Thirty: The Blood Cocoon
Jagged stones beneath him were like countless icy blades, digging mercilessly into Lin Mo’s ruptured wounds and broken ribs. Every shallow breath tugged at his shattered organs, stabbing him with a pain so fierce it gnawed at his very bones. Thick, foamy blood kept bubbling from the corner of his mouth, spreading a dark stain across the cold rocks. With great effort, he rolled his eyes, his blurred gaze sweeping past the outline of the collapsed stone beam above him—churning mists swirled, and Su Li’s figure was long gone.
Alive or dead? What did it matter to him?
Lin Mo’s bloodied lips curled in an attempt at a cold smile, but it only brought on a fit of racking coughs, sending more clots of blood flying. He struggled, propping himself up on his barely functioning right elbow, trying to inch away from the deadly heap of stones.
And then—
Buzz!
That strange pulse surged again from the depths of the rubble beneath him—clearer than before! It carried with it an indescribable ancient sorrow, and… a faint calling, as if echoing across ten thousand years! The pulse was like a pebble cast into still waters, instantly stirring the icy “stone” lodged in Lin Mo’s chest—the fragment of the Void Heaven Canon!
The fragment throbbed violently! It was no longer a furious rejection, but rather… a complex blend of loathing, dread, and a trace of inexplicable… agitation?
Almost at once, the demonic “reverse seed” clinging to it flared with a brilliant jade light! A greedy suction awakened, as if it longed for the very source of that pulse!
What on earth was buried beneath all this?
A surge of confusion and a primal sense of warning overwhelmed the agony in his body. Lin Mo forced himself to stay conscious, using his right elbow and knee to drag himself inch by agonizing inch through the jagged stone. Each movement was torture, leaving a dark red trail in his wake.
He reached the spot where the pulse was strongest—a relatively “flat” patch of stones, half-hidden beneath a larger slab of black rock. The pulse came from beneath this pile of rubble.
Panting, cold sweat mingling with blood trickling down his forehead, Lin Mo used his right hand—ravaged by soul-eating leeches and kept functional only by the “reverse seed’s” vitality—to shakily brush aside the slick surface stones.
Beneath the rubble was not hard rock.
It was… something dark red and gelatinous, like congealed blood plasma?
The substance was thick and sticky, exuding a sickly sweet stench mingled with ancient dust and the metallic tang of rust. It coated whatever lay below like a scab sealing a massive wound.
Lin Mo’s fingertips brushed the surface of the dark red gel—cold, slimy, disturbingly elastic. The strange sorrowful pulse radiated clearly through this thick “blood scab”!
The fragment of the Void Heaven Canon throbbed harder in his chest, sending a desperate urge to tear itself free and flee! Meanwhile, the “reverse seed’s” jade gleam flickered with excitement, its greedy pull nearly bursting from his body!
Lin Mo’s eyes hardened. Whatever it was, it was better than lying here waiting for death! Fighting the nausea and the warring powers inside him, he shaped his right hand into a claw and, mustering his remaining strength, tore at the dark red “blood scab”!
Rip!
It was like tearing through tough hide—his fingers sank deep into the icy, sticky substance, and an indescribable chill shot into his body from his fingertips! Lin Mo grunted, gritted his teeth, and pulled.
“Open—!”
With a wrenching sound, a great swath of the dark red gel was ripped away, exposing what lay beneath.
Lin Mo’s pupils contracted sharply.
Not a skeleton. Not a magical artifact.
It was a… cocoon?
A massive, oval cocoon, formed entirely from congealed dark red “blood plasma”!
The gigantic cocoon was embedded deep within the jagged rocks, its surface veined with twisted, knotted ridges like blood vessels—these ridges still throbbed faintly, emitting an eerie crimson glow. A will, ancient and immeasurably hateful, filled with resentment and destruction, surged forth with the cocoon’s exposure—like a ferocious beast awakening after eons of sleep.
Buzz!
A terrifying shockwave of will crashed into Lin Mo’s mind like an invisible tsunami—ten, a hundred times fiercer than the blood-marked stone beam above! A torrent of chaotic, bloody, and excruciating images overwhelmed him, like a flood out of control.
Burning stars plummeted from the sky; the broken corpses of gods and immortals drifted like tattered cloth through shattered void. Rivers of golden divine blood coursed over cracked earth. Screeching wails, despairing roars, cold laughter—a cacophony of countless voices merged into a symphony of annihilation! Amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, a towering blurry figure unleashed a roar that shook the heavens—the pressure in that roar splintered Lin Mo’s very soul.
“Ahhh—!” Lin Mo’s scream was raw and inhuman. He clutched his head, body convulsing and writhing in agony on the heap of stones like a shrimp thrown into boiling oil. Dark red blood gushed from his seven orifices. His mind felt as if pierced and churned by a billion red-hot needles.
The brunt of this will was not even directed at Lin Mo—merely the aftermath of the cocoon’s exposure! Yet even so, it was enough to shatter any weaker-willed creature into a drooling idiot in an instant.
Just as Lin Mo’s consciousness was about to be utterly obliterated by this chaotic, horrifying will—
Buzz!
The icy fragment of the Void Heaven Canon in his chest reacted as if facing its mortal foe—erupting with a fury colder and more violent than ever before! A surge of annihilating will swept through Lin Mo’s mind, forcibly expelling the chaotic invader!
At the same time!
The “reverse seed” flared with a blinding jade light! A wicked yet pure surge of vitality, mixed with greedy suction, rushed to meet the onslaught of chaos—like a starving beast, wildly devouring and transforming the chaos into some pure, ancient spiritual essence!
The fragment of the Void Heaven Canon obliterated and expelled.
The “reverse seed” devoured and transformed.
These two powers clashed violently within Lin Mo’s near-shattered mind and body! Agony ripped from the depths of his soul through every fiber of his flesh!
Yet it was this brutal contest, like two raging dams, that held back the flood of chaotic will, granting Lin Mo’s nearly collapsed consciousness a sliver—a breath—of respite!
In that razor-thin instant, Lin Mo’s pain-drowned awareness, like a drowning man clinging to a straw, briefly seized upon a single, crystal-clear voice—seared into the torrent of chaos.
It was not an image, but a voice—filled with boundless venom, resentment, and madness, roaring from the cocoon’s depths across ten thousand years, exploding in his soul:
“Hao Tian… Wu Que… You… betrayed us… We are not resigned… Hate! Hate! Hate!”
The voice struck Lin Mo’s mind like thunder!
Hao Tian? Wu Que? Those names—again? Betrayed? Us? The being inside this cocoon… was not alone? They hated Hao Tian and Wu Que? Who were they?
The shock of revelation and the agony of a torn soul sent Lin Mo’s mind spiraling into chaos. Just as he was about to sink into oblivion—
Buzz!
The vast blood cocoon, exposed to the air, suddenly flared with blinding crimson light along its vein-like ridges! The entire cocoon throbbed violently—like a monstrous heart on the verge of waking!
An even greater, more focused, and utterly destructive will began to gather—locking onto Lin Mo, who was mere steps away. This time, it was no longer a dissipating aftershock, but a true, malicious gaze!
The shadow of death fell instantly—more terrible than the fall, the boulders, the soul-eating leeches—all combined!
Every drop of Lin Mo’s blood seemed to freeze. Even the embattled forces of the Void Heaven Canon and “reverse seed” within him stilled for an instant beneath the horror of that gaze.
It was over. Completely over.
At that moment of utter despair, as his mind was about to be crushed by annihilation—
“Grab on!”
A cold, weak, but commanding female voice suddenly rang out above Lin Mo’s head!
Next moment!
A makeshift “rope,” fashioned from several tattered strips of clothing knotted together, dangled from the swirling mists above, pulsing faintly with spiritual energy, and landed precisely before Lin Mo’s eyes!
Su Li!
She hadn’t left—she’d come back?!
In Lin Mo’s dim pupils, the swaying “rope” came into focus—survival instinct surged above all confusion and chaos! His still-functional right hand summoned its last reserves of strength, clutching the rope’s end as if grasping a lifeline!
Above, Su Li gave a muffled grunt—Lin Mo’s weight must have tugged at her own grievous wounds.
“Climb! Now!” Su Li’s voice, pained and urgent, echoed from above.
Climb? With how many bones broken—how could he possibly climb?
The thought had barely crossed his mind—
Buzz!
A faint but pure surge of pink spiritual energy, laced with a beguiling, mind-altering pulse, flowed down the makeshift rope! Not strong, but incredibly precise—it pierced Lin Mo’s depleted channels like a clever thread!
An uncanny thing occurred—the two warring forces within Lin Mo—the icy ferocity of the Void Heaven Canon fragment and the demonic vitality of the “reverse seed”—at the instant this foreign, beguiling pink energy entered, seemed to… resonate, ever so briefly and precariously?!
As if this weak, foreign force was a spark that ignited some hidden balance!
Boom!
A torrent of power, wild and chaotic, far beyond Lin Mo’s limits, exploded within him—a fusion of the Canon’s icy wrath, the “reverse seed’s” demonic vitality, and a trace of Su Li’s beguiling spiritual energy, all mixed together in an uncontrollable storm!
“Argh—!” Lin Mo roared in pain. Driven by this out-of-control power, his battered body was yanked upward as if by an invisible giant, shooting along the ragged rope toward Su Li in the swirling mists like a cannonball!
The speed was so great it left a sonic boom in its wake.
From above, Su Li gave a short, startled cry.
Bang!
Lin Mo crashed hard into a relatively “solid” surface—the remnant of a broken stone beam, forming a small, flat platform. He landed like a sack of rags, tumbling to a halt and spitting blood.
Struggling to lift his head, through blurred vision he saw Su Li slumped at the edge of the platform, her face white as paper, blood trickling from her lips. She was coughing violently into her hand, her fingers clenched white around the rope’s other end, her wrist bleeding anew from where Lin Mo’s bone fragments had cut her. The gash on her brow looked worse, the deathly pallor deepening.
She stared at Lin Mo, sprawled in the mud, her lovely upturned eyes filled with shock, lingering fear, and a hint of… utter disbelief. Clearly, Lin Mo’s wild, uncontrollable “rocket launch” had startled her badly.
“You…” Su Li panted, managing only a single word.
Boom—!!!
Below, the massive blood cocoon, angered by Lin Mo’s escape, erupted with a thunderous roar! The entire abyss shook! A visible, viscous crimson shockwave, brimming with malice and annihilation, exploded from the cocoon’s surface and surged toward the broken platform where Lin Mo and Su Li lay!
Where it passed, the mist turned blood-red, jagged rocks melted like snow, and the air itself froze in terror.
“Get out of the way!” Su Li shrieked, her voice breaking.
But where could they run? The platform was barely a few feet across, sheer drops on three sides, a collapsed rock face on the fourth—there was nowhere to escape!
Lin Mo watched the oncoming crimson wave, the chill of death squeezing his throat. The last of his power was spent, leaving only pain and exhaustion.
Just then!
From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse—at the rear of the platform against the collapsed cliff, among the rubble, there seemed to be a narrow, pitch-black crevice, just wide enough for a person to squeeze through!
Survival instinct surged again, overpowering all else.
“There!” Lin Mo roared with his final breath, pointing to the crevice.
Su Li’s reaction was lightning-fast. Almost before his voice faded, she tumbled toward the corner, heedless of propriety, seized Lin Mo’s limp arm, and with all her strength, dragged him into the narrow darkness!
The two of them, tangled together, squeezed desperately into the slit of rock.
The very instant their bodies vanished into the crevice—
Boom!
The viscous, blood-red shockwave of annihilation crashed over the platform like the flood at world’s end! The whole ledge quaked; the edge of the rock was sheared away in an instant, ground to nothingness. The force battered the crevice, squeezing the two of them mercilessly against the cold, rough stone, their bones creaking.
“Ugh!” Lin Mo and Su Li groaned in unison as they were crushed against the walls. Pebbles rained down, blocking most of the entrance, leaving only a few narrow cracks for the blood-red light and the rumble of destruction to seep through.
The cramped space was thick with the scent of blood, Su Li’s cold fragrance, and the dust of stone. Their bodies pressed close, they could feel each other’s hammering hearts and labored breaths.
For now… they were safe.
Lin Mo, with difficulty, turned his head and peered through the cracks at the blood-drenched abyss outside. After unleashing its fury, the cocoon’s crimson glow seemed to dim, its throbbing slowed, but its suffocating malice still filled the air.
He turned back to Su Li, who was pressed tightly against him. In the darkness, he could only make out her blurred outline and her eyes—still wide with shock and a tangle of emotions, reflecting the faint blood-light.
“Why… did you come back?” Lin Mo’s voice was hoarse as sandpaper, every word spattered with blood. He stared at Su Li, his gaze full of cold suspicion and incomprehension.