Reincarnation Paradise: The Crucible.

Chapter 468 Qiongqi Cave
"He can run quite well."

The cold voice slowly echoed in the corridor. At the edge of the rock wall, Cang Chi, covering his broken arm, looked in the direction of the voice and saw the hateful human calmly walking out of the darkness not far away. Not only did he not have any injuries on his body, but even his clothes looked clean and new.

Seeing this scene, the fear that originally filled Cang Chi's eyes was quickly replaced by a touch of hysterical madness. It could accept death, but would never allow such a complete defeat. Since there was no hope of escape, it would make the other party pay a heavy price even if it fought desperately.

"Human, die!"

With an angry roar, Cang Chi's half-human, half-wolf body instantly transformed into a ferocious wolf with a shoulder height of nearly two meters. Blood was dripping from its sharp fangs as thick as daggers, and above it was a pair of scarlet eyes as big as copper bells, staring at the tall figure on the opposite side of the corridor.

"Roar!"

As a violent roar resounded throughout the corridor, the wolf with bared fangs pounced straight towards Xu Yue. Except for the loss of one of its front paws, this time it was much more ferocious than its previous human form. Unfortunately, the final outcome was not much different.

With just a side kick, the wolf that was in mid-air and had not yet landed was kicked away again by Xu Yue, and one could even see a few bloody fangs falling from the air.

Although a trapped beast will still fight and a desperate enemy will not be stopped, in the face of an absolute gap in strength, the so-called desperate fight is still meaningless.

The huge wolf's body slammed heavily onto the rough rock wall on the opposite side. Before it fell, a sudden strong wind blew in front of it, and then a large silver hand suddenly reached out and tightly grasped the wolf's exposed fragile neck.

From afar, one could see shadows interweaving and low growls in the dim underground tunnel. A human was raising his hand to firmly suppress a ferocious wolf that was much larger than him. Obviously, there was a huge difference in size between the two, but the wolf, which should have been more powerful, was now more like a piece of fish on a chopping board in his hands.

The silver hand that seemed to be made of cast iron was sinking deep into the fur, tightly gripping the wolf's relatively soft throat and slowly tightening. Under the pressure, the originally unobstructed trachea gradually became narrow, and the increasingly scarce oxygen intake also caused the violent roars to quickly turn into hoarse and rapid gasps.

As the feeling of suffocation began to worsen, the wolf that was pinned down on the rock wall began to struggle more and more violently. Large pieces of crushed gray-white stone powder fell from the surroundings. At the same time, its left front paw, which was scratching hard, cut open Xu Yue's tough purple outer shirt in the struggle. However, when it touched the silver skin under the clothes, it could only splash a few sparks in vain.

The next second, another big silver hand suddenly grabbed the left arm of the wolf claw that was scratching randomly. Without any mercy, Xu Yue just pulled it hard, and then the hot wolf blood gushed out instantly. Amidst the splatter of blood, half of the incomplete forearm with bloody flesh and vaguely visible white radius was torn off by him.

At this point, Canglang's only remaining arm was completely declared scrapped. He threw the half of his arm away casually, and Xu Yue, with blood stains on his cheeks, looked up. Under the dual stimulation of severe pain and suffocation, Canglang's eyes, which should have been blood-red, had turned pale. But even so, the madness contained in them did not diminish at all, but became more intense.

Normally, Xu Yue was not interested in torturing his enemies, but thinking back to the female corpse in the cave whose stomach had been ripped open and whose internal organs had been eaten raw, he was not averse to using some more brutal methods, so…

"Pfft!"

Another blood flower bloomed, and Cang Chi felt a pain in his chest. Then he keenly sensed that a cold palm was tearing off the fur and flesh on his chest in the most brutal way, and then directly breaking the ribs, and finally reaching into the chest cavity and firmly grasping the strong heart that was still beating violently.

The whole process was quick and decisive, which reminded it of the brutal methods it used to prey on humans. The two were surprisingly similar.

To be honest, in its hundreds of years of life, it had always been gnawing on other people's hearts, but this was the first time it felt the extreme coldness of having its own heart held by someone else. It was a strong sense of suffocation that was far more unbearable than having its throat locked.

Even if he was as mad as a wild beast, when facing the cold hand slowly tightening on his heart, an lingering strong fear could not help but emerge from the madness in his eyes.

On the other side, watching the madness in the blood-red beast's eyes gradually being replaced by fear, Xu Yue quietly loosened his silver hand that was strangling the other's neck and said lightly:

"I ask you a question, what is this place?"

After a few moments of silence, a hoarse reply voice slowly sounded.

“Haha, it’s okay to tell you. This is the Qiongqi Cave of the tiger demon clan. They kill and raise poisonous insects. You can only go in but never out. Even if you kill me now, you will not be able to escape the fate of being killed by others in the end. Hahaha, to put it bluntly, there is no difference between you and me. We are just prey to be slaughtered and raised poisonous insects. Hahahaha…”

The hoarse laughter kept echoing in the corridor, but with the sudden lighting of a dark red flame, the laughter quickly turned into heart-wrenching hoarse wails.

When it comes to torture, no matter how intense the physical pain is, it is far inferior to even the slightest damage to the soul. Coincidentally, the hellfire that Xu Yue just mastered has the special ability to burn the soul, and the heavier the sins of the target, the more terrifying the burning sensation of the soul will be.

Quietly watching the huge wolf in front of him struggling frantically in the boiling flames, Xu Yue took a few steps back. Judging from its current performance, this guy had committed many sins.

Anyway, under his deliberate control, the hellfire would not directly burn the opponent's soul in a short period of time, but would only make him fall into endless pain comparable to the torture of hell, so he didn't mind delaying for a few more minutes.

I think this period of time is enough for the wolf demon to completely understand his situation. Sometimes, death may be the relief that one cannot get.

In fact, it took less than a few minutes. After only forty seconds, Cang Chi in the flames was forced to return to his original werewolf form, and the remaining breath of life became intermittent.

Temporarily dispelling the hellfire that was still burning, Xu Yue did not immediately look at the black charcoal with weak breathing at his feet, but instead focused his attention on the light red illusory light spots that had gathered around him at some point in time.

From the perspective of telepathic perception, he could observe that these light spots were not the thoughts or energy incarnations of a certain creature, but some more special existence.

They have no memory and no thoughts, but when they come into contact and collide with each other, they can briefly condense into some kind of unstable butterfly-like existence.

Then, after maintaining for a moment, it dissipates again into scattered points of light and disappears. And when it is in a aggregated state, it can also produce weak and real mental fluctuations, but these fluctuations tend to be more inclined towards more brutal aspects such as killing and devouring.

"Is this... spiritual essence? But why is it red..."

Spiritual essence is the core of why this world is so extraordinary. Before entering this world, Xu Yue certainly also learned about its various characteristics in detail.

But as far as he knew, natural spiritual essence should be the most basic white or colorless, and would not form such a distinct tendency. This was obviously very different from the pale red spots that were circling and gathering around him.

His fingertips brushed past a light red butterfly flying up and down in the air, but as expected, he did not feel any touch. His eyes flashed, and Xu Yue retracted his gaze, then lowered his eyes to look at Cang Chi who was lying on the ground in front of him.

Instead of making random guesses without any clue, it would be better to ask the wolf demon directly. After experiencing the pain of the burning soul, the other party should be happy to answer all his questions.

"What are these dots of light?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Cang Chi's slightly trembling reply was heard from below. Although the soul burning in just forty seconds failed to burn his body, it completely destroyed his will.

"Spiritual essence, the evil spiritual essence unique to the Qiongqi Cavern. When evil things such as killing and torture occur in the cave, these spiritual essences will manifest accordingly, come close to us 'evil men', and be absorbed by us." "Qiongqi?"

Qiongqi, one of the four evil beasts in ancient times, looks like a tiger, is as big as an ox, has wings, eats people, destroys trust and hates loyalty, punishes the good and promotes the evil.

As one of the four evil beasts along with Taotie, Xu Yue has some understanding of it. It seems that this world is far more extensive than what is shown in the comics. Not only are there immortals and gods like Laojun and Nezha, but even the four evil beasts are also included.

"You said before that there is no exit from the Qiongqi Cave. What does that mean?"

"The underground cave is a breeding ground for the tiger monsters. It is isolated by a formation barrier. For hundreds of years, no prey thrown into the cave has ever escaped. No matter if it is a human or a monster, once it falls into the cave, it will eventually become food. This is the case for me, and you will be no exception."

As he spoke, Cang Chi's charred face seemed to have eased a little, but his originally bloodshot eyes had somehow turned black and white. He first glanced at the reddish dots around him with hatred, then looked at Xu Yue, who was looking down at him. His pupils trembled, and then he continued:

"Have you seen these evil spirits? After hundreds of years of cultivation by the tiger demon clan, all the natural spirits in the cave have been transformed into the horrible appearance they are now. If we want to restore our spiritual power, we can only breathe them in and out. Once we inhale them, it will be like drinking poison to quench thirst. These evil spirits will subtly make all beings become ferocious and brutal, and eventually they will endlessly kill each other in this cave until they are completely destroyed."

"I was thrown into the cave three years ago, and now I eat monsters and humans, regardless of whether they are raw or cold. It won't be long before you become like me. To put it bluntly, we are just a group of poisonous insects that are struggling to survive."

After hearing Cang Chi's words, Xu Yue's expression remained unchanged. He just looked thoughtfully at the other's pupils that were no longer filled with blood. Compared to not long ago, although the wolf demon's breath was weak now, it seemed a lot calmer.

So while the fire of hell burns sins, it also allows the other party to get rid of the influence of those so-called evil spirits?
His sight paused briefly on the reddish spots of light around him, and then he met the pair of clear black and white eyes below him again. He didn't care about the spiritual threat that Cang Chi mentioned. After all, even if he wanted to, he had no channels to absorb these evil spiritual essences. Compared to this, he wanted to know why this cave was named Qiongqi.

"Go on, what is the purpose of those tiger monsters building this Qiongqi Cave?"

"Oh, what else could it be? Gods have never died since ancient times. Those tiger monsters are just dreaming of breeding a new generation of ferocious beasts, Qiongqi."

Hearing the four words "Gods are Immortal", Xu Yue's eyes narrowed slightly, but soon returned to normal.

"Go on, tell me all the information including 'Gods Are Immortal'."

"...Okay, but give me a quick death after you're done!"

Obviously, after getting rid of the influence of the evil spirit, the wolf has completely lost its last will to live and only wants to die quickly. Of course, with his current injuries, death is only a matter of time.

On the other side, Xu Yue nodded indifferently after hearing the request. He was not very interested in torture itself.

"it is good."

…………

Thirty minutes later, the sound of a broken neck bone broke the silence of the corridor, followed by the rise of a large amount of enchanting purple flames.

[You killed the wolf demon Cang Chi]

[Cang Chi is an important member of the Cang Lang clan, and has obtained 3.2% of the source of the world. Now he has obtained 3.2% of the source of the world in total.]

[Due to killing Cang Chi, Cang Lang tribe's reputation -20, current reputation value -20 (cold)]

[You get a treasure chest (purple)]

Soon the flames dissipated, and Xu Yue's figure also disappeared in the corridor. Only a human-shaped charred patch and those rapidly dimming light spots remained.

More than ten minutes later, a green light flickered in the dim corridor, and a figure with long hair quietly emerged. He raised his foot and stepped on the black burnt marks on the ground. The figure let out a light sigh, and his tone was slightly surprised.

"Tsk, this damn dog still died in the end. He wanted to rely on differentiation to resist erosion. Humph, even a psychic like me wouldn't dare to be so arrogant. It's his own fault."

"But... I don't think I've ever felt the aura of a fire-type imperial spirit before. It's a new fairy... Wait, this characteristic is... Big Sun?!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the figure suddenly crushed the charred rubble in his hand, and then turned into a hurricane with a look of ecstasy and flew away in an instant.

…………

In the original cave, after dealing with Cang Chi, Xu Yue returned here again.

Even though the wolf's combat power was average, the intelligence in its head was extremely rich, especially the information about the phrase "gods are immortal", which played a huge role in his awakening mission.

The so-called immortality of gods means that as long as there is a being in this world who can be promoted to a god, they will possess a certain degree of immortality. Even if they die, their unique spirituality that relies on the spiritual space will remain.

As long as certain conditions are met, these spiritual spirits scattered between heaven and earth will combine with material spirits to give birth to a powerful fairy who inherits their names and some of their talents. Although they have lost all their memories and are no longer their past selves, they can still be said to be immortal to a certain extent.

Its form of existence is somewhat similar to the reincarnation of Ashura and Indra's Chakra in the Naruto world. Of course, it is only similar, and the specific principles are completely different.

The reason why the tiger demon clan spent hundreds of years to build this thankless task, the Qiongqi Cave, was to create a special environment that perfectly suits the habits of Qiongqi, so as to attract the other party's unique spirituality that overflows between heaven and earth, hoping to breed a new generation of the ferocious beast Qiongqi.

It's a pity that hundreds of years have passed. Although the environment in the cave has become increasingly harsh, and even the natural spirit has been permeated into a ferocious appearance that worships evil and rejects good, the birth of a new generation of Qiongqi is still a long way off.

Recalling the detailed information about the 'immortality of gods', Xu Yue's eyes flickered in the cave. Since even a ferocious beast like Qiongqi has a chance to be resurrected, then Chi You, who is known as the God of War and the Lord of Arms, and has an entire Jiuli tribe under his command, naturally has the possibility of reappearing in the world.

He might have guessed what the final step of the awakening mission would be.

(End of this chapter)