Chapter 253: Battle with the Octopus Monster (I)

“Gulp… gulp.” The octopus monster made sucking sounds as it stared at Chen Yiming, who was a few hundred meters away.

To it, Chen Yiming was just another prey that had run faster than the one it had swallowed previously.

The octopus monster’s gaze was filled with bloodlust, causing the surrounding spiritual energy to become even more active. It was as if there were numerous small black worms that were sucking dry everything that they crawled past.

Chen Yiming blinked and sized up the octopus monster that was still digesting its food.

According to Matsumoto Shigejiro, this sacrificial spirit that was at the peak of the warrior realm had made another breakthrough.

This was the first time he had encountered an opponent who could give a physical form to its spiritual energy. How could he kill it easily before he squeezed out all the information he could get from studying it?

At this moment, what had happened in the shrine could no longer be hidden from the various large clans who were still watching nearby.

Everyone was dumbfounded. They could not believe that the head of the shrine, Matsumoto Shigejiro, had died at the hands of a sacrificial spirit that had just broken through.

Sacrificial spirits fed on souls. Without sufficient power to control them, they would usually hunt freely without restraint.

If Chen Yiming failed to kill the octopus monster in the end, that would lead to the worst outcome. A spirit disaster would break out in the Osaka region.

…

If they wanted to prevent the spirit disaster, the most direct way was to either kill the sacrificial spirit or destroy its vessel.

The octopus monster was half a step away from becoming a martial master. There was a high chance that all the factions in Osaka City would not be able to deal with it even if they worked together. Moreover, even if they knew that they were on the brink of death, they would not be able to work together.

Then there was only one option, and that was to think of ways to destroy the spirit’s vessel.

However, the vessel of a sacrificial spirit was equivalent to its own house. Although the octopus monster only had unstable emotions, it could move about with the vessel. It was not that easy to lure it away from the vessel.

In the history of Japan, every time a disaster involving the sacrificial spirits occurred, the casualties were much higher than any other type of disaster. For example, the strength of the octopus monster could turn the entire Osaka City into a dead city in just a few minutes.

“Hey, hey, hey… Everyone in the clan should immediately split into small teams and temporarily leave the city to find a place to hide in the wilderness.”

“Pack up? What for?”

“Act immediately. If you don’t act now, you’ll lose your life.”

After being stunned for a moment, some of them reacted and immediately informed their clansmen.

With more people gathered, it was easier to attract the attention of the spirits. From historical records, the best way to avoid the spirit disaster was to split up.

While the octopus monster was still eating, this news began to spread throughout the major cities in the Osaka region. The cities were in chaos.

Under the lead of the large clans and the martial arts practitioners who had first-hand information, they brought some simple daily necessities and split up to leave the cities through the city gates.

To ordinary people, the movements of these martial arts factions were indicators of the situation. Furthermore, the news of the spirit disaster spread faster than any rumors.

The streets were in chaos. There were all kinds of people, such as those who rushed to stock up on supplies, those who left to seek protection, and those who ran away with their belongings on their backs.

Ordinary people could either continue to stay in the city and resign themselves to fate, or pay money to obtain protection and follow martial arts practitioners out of the city to avoid trouble.

…

Before anyone noticed, the spiritual energy had already spread to a radius of two to three kilometers. The sky had already darkened, and even the heat energy from the sun could be absorbed by it.

The octopus monster released its tentacles, and Matsumoto Shigejiro’s corpse fell to the ground.

His eyeballs bulged out. From his expression, it was clear that he did not die in peace, and his expression was filled with fear. His skin had lost all its moisture, and he looked like a cracked piece of bark from a tree.

After being in charge of the Osaka region for more than 10 years under the orders of the Japanese royal family in his role that was equivalent to the city guardians of the Daxia Kingdom, Matsumoto Shigejiro was confirmed to be dead.

“Swish! Swish! Swish!”

The hundreds of tentacles didn’t stop. They shot out and tried to catch Chen Yiming.

The spiritual power on them gradually turned into a physical form, emitting a shrill cry. It was as if countless remnant souls were fighting each other, wanting to devour each other.

Wherever the tentacles passed, air barriers were broken through, causing explosions in the air. This meant that these tentacles formed by spiritual strength were no longer just imagery, but had a real physical presence.

If one was hit by them, not only would they have to face a spiritual attack, but they would also have to face a physical attack on the level of an internal force attack. If one wanted to fight against them, one needed to have both spiritual strength and internal force strength.

“Swish!”

Chen Yiming’s eyes narrowed as he slashed the peach wood sword at the tentacles.

A blinding flash of light appeared, and the surrounding spiritual energy melted away like snow. The Sword Aura hidden inside the flash of light turned into a crescent shape, and the two ends instantly extended outwards, spanning across all the tentacles that were charging over.

From below, they slashed at hundreds of tentacles at the same time.

“Clang!”

The Sword Aura struck the tentacles, producing a loud sound of metal clashing against metal.

However, the Sword Aura was only blocked for a moment before it completely broke through the defense of the tentacles. Hundreds of tentacles were cut in half, and a large amount of spiritual power at the point of the cut was destroyed by the Sword Aura.

The destroyed spiritual power did not simply disperse, but completely disappeared.

However, to his surprise, the tentacles that had fallen from the sky actually floated back to the octopus monster. It was as though Chen Yiming had only destroyed a small portion of the tentacles.

“Hmm?”

After Chen Yiming cut off the tentacles, he didn’t continue to attack. Instead, he stared at the spiritual power that had turned from physical to illusory and returned to the octopus monster’s body.

Clearly, the ability to materialize one’s spiritual energy was a qualitative change. It was just like how a young bird learned to fly, how an animal first learned to stand, and how a baby learned to speak for the first time.

In terms of spiritual power, when an ordinary person went from the disciple realm to the warrior realm, it was not like the external and internal forces. The spiritual power did not undergo many transformations and had always been undergoing quantitative increases.

Moreover, the accumulation was very slow and difficult. Most people would be stuck at the same level for a long time, so they would be stopped at a bottleneck once they reached a certain level.

Chen Yiming had never come into contact with any cultivation technique that could cultivate one’s spiritual power. All the secret techniques based on spiritual energy were only at the level of application.

In other words, for the aspect of spiritual power, human cultivators were completely dependent on their talent.

After the octopus monster retracted its severed tentacles, it positioned itself on the altar. Its bloodthirsty expression had mostly disappeared, and it began to become cautious.

A sacrificial spirit that only had unstable emotions still had the ability to fear creatures stronger than it. A spirit could also become afraid and try to protect itself.

“It seems that even if it’s a spirit, being half a step away from the master realm allows one’s life force to undergo a qualitative change, making it not so easy to kill.”

Chen Yiming instantly put aside his previous fear that he would easily kill the octopus monster.

With a light tap of his feet against the ground, his figure moved in front of the octopus monster instantly, as though he had teleported.

“Slash!”

He made a small sound.

A stream of Sword Aura was released from the peach wood sword in his hand.