Tomb Raider: The man is in the Nine Gates, but the system insists it's the Primordial Era.

The candlelight flickered.

Blown by a sudden gust of wind.

With a width similar to that of a normal human body, covered with countless tiny legs, and able to stand upright by supporting itself solely on its lower body, the six-winged centipede has finally appeared.

Those compound eyes, glowing with an eerie green light, seemed to be expressing human-like emotions as they scrutinized Su Mu and the others who had not yet left.

"You, go!"

Kunlun, who was born somewhat mentally challenged and didn't seem very bright, stretched out his arms and pulled everyone behind him.

"Hong Gu, let's go!"

Hua Maguai impatiently pushed the only woman in their group with his back.

Su Mu had no time to pay attention to these emotional passersby. He reached out and began to cast a spell on the back of Kunlun, who was about half a meter taller than him.

The Six Ding and Six Jia Protective Mantra.

Golden Light Blade Spell.

The incantation has just been completed.

Kunlun, who was covering the retreat for everyone, pounced on the six-winged centipede.

Su Mu followed closely behind: "Be careful, this guy is also covered in poison."

"Partridge Whistle! Bow and arrow!"

"Got it!"

"..."

Su Mu watched as Kunlun, under the spell he had cast, used his brute strength to grab the six-winged centipede, and the two rolled to the ground, struggling incessantly.

He began to draw his bow and nock an arrow, while simultaneously casting the Golden Light Blade Spell on the arrow in his hand.

The light of the incantation on Kunlun's body was dissipating at an extremely fast speed, and the blood dripping from the wound of the six-winged centipede fell onto Kunlun's skin, instantly emitting scorching white smoke.

"Get out of the way!"

In the blink of an eye, Su Mu seized the opportunity and released the arrow in his hand.

Then, he drew his bow and nocked an arrow again.

whoosh-

whoosh-

whoosh-

whoosh-

whoosh-

Like a tireless bull, he repeatedly drew his bow and released all the arrows in his hand.

Kunlun rolled to the side, clutching his bloodied and mangled right arm, sweating profusely from the pain.

Suddenly, the group, who had been unable to hear any sound, slowed their escape plans and turned around in a daze to look at the six-winged centipede that was staring at the ground, like Jesus bound to the cross.

The six-winged centipede was not completely dead and was still struggling on the ground, but its entire body was pierced by sharp arrows, the heads of which were stuck hard in the stone slab of the Taoist temple.

It was still struggling, its broken body bleeding and corroding the surrounding floor, but it couldn't budge the arrow stuck in its body even a little.

Su Mu stepped forward, arrow in hand, his gaze sweeping down from top to bottom: "This is it."

He gripped the sharp arrow, imbued with the Golden Light Blade Spell, and forcefully slashed open the six-winged centipede's chest, retrieving the demon core hidden within its body.

[Demon Core. Six-Winged Centipede]

[Year: 699]

[Effect: Supplement]

As the system notification appeared, Su Mu opened his mouth and swallowed the blood-stained demon core.

A sense of awareness was reminding him that the body of the Witch Clan was never afraid of these demonic cores; he could simply swallow them.

goo goo-

The angry-eyed rooster, which had been flying down from above, darted around and quickly ran toward the dead six-winged centipede carcass, where it began to peck at it.

It was already dark outside, and night had fallen.

Old Yang, who had been waiting in vain for news from Partridge Whistle and Su Mu, had no choice but to ask the divine rooster to go down and check the situation first, as it was on its way.

According to the accounts of the Unloading Ridge Warriors who returned to the top, they seemed to have found the wrong tomb and instead stumbled upon a Taoist temple for alchemy.

The Taoist temple is infested with a swarm of highly venomous centipedes led by a six-winged centipede that has already transformed into a demon.

The Unloading Ridge Warriors suffered heavy casualties, and Luo Laowai's men were no exception.

"Partridge Whistle, is Master Su alright?"

"It's nothing, why are you all here?"

"We were worried about you, so those people upstairs were too scared to come down again. We decided to come and check on you all."

"Senior brother."

"Is anyone still guarding the rope up there? And this ladder hanging on the mountain?"

"Don't worry, Chen Yulou is still here. I doubt they would dare to cut off our common escape route."

"..."

goo goo-

After pecking at the corpse of the six-winged centipede a few times, the Angry-Eyed Chicken was still not satisfied and continued to peck at the group of highly venomous centipedes on the ground.

The centipede swarm, upon seeing the Angry Sun Chicken, showed even greater fear than when they encountered Su Mu, and began to retreat rapidly.

Those that run slowly are pecked and eaten one by one by the Angry Sun Chicken.

"What a valiant rooster!" Chen Yulou and the others looked at the angry-eyed rooster, which they had previously looked down upon, with great astonishment.

"With the Angry-Eyed Rooster around, the centipede swarm shouldn't dare to show their faces anymore. Come down and see if there's any other way out. It would be a shame not to take this bronze alchemy furnace; it's worth quite a bit of money."

Su Mu slung the bow and arrows over his back and tidied up the quiver.

In the absence of any suitable and convenient weapons, the bow and arrow is a decent option.

boom!

The bearded man and the others jumped down from the hanging ladder: "A bronze cauldron?"

"Yes! There's also a shark oil ever-burning lamp. See if there's anything else of value."

Su Mu kicked the already dead six-winged centipede corpse and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

The six-winged centipede demon core he had swallowed began to slowly manifest its power.

The wild, untamed tattoos of the Wu tribe on his skin reappeared.

It felt like something was about to grow out between my eyebrows.

It seemed as if something was about to burst out of his body from his back and shoulders.

A similar sensation was also felt in my abdomen.

Su Mu couldn't help but swallow hard when he recalled the appearance of the twelve ancestral witch statues he had seen in the Ancestral Witch Temple.

No.

Is the only path to evolution for the Witch Clan to grow non-human organs and bodies?

If he really grew some kind of eye between his eyebrows, three heads and six arms, and organs like those of the great witch Xing Tian growing in his abdomen, wouldn't he be regarded as a monster when he walks in the world?

In the Republic of China era, when information was relatively limited, that was alright.

But if that new era of peace arrives, wouldn't he have to be on guard against humans at all times to avoid becoming a test subject for strange experiments?

"No, no, no, don't do this."

Su Mu patted his forehead and shook his shoulders, praying in his heart that he would not reveal any alien monster physical characteristics.

[The Laws of Heaven and Earth]

A strange thought suddenly surged into Su Mu's mind, like information he had gained after unlocking a deeper bloodline.

He sensed the strange thought that suddenly surged into his mind and closed his eyes.

"The body of the witch race is the source of all power; the larger the body, the more terrifying the power gained."

It can suppress growth in size, or unleash accumulated power when needed.

"Born with a different body, one can gain supernatural powers."

"..."

In the memory space.

The six-legged, four-winged ancestral witch Dijiang hovered in the void, breaking through space several times in the blink of an eye, and flying tens of thousands of miles in an instant.

With a bird's face and a human body, and as green as bamboo, the ancestral witch Jumang exhaled a single breath, and even the mountains, rivers, swamps, and the earth bloomed with endless flowers.

With a beast's head and a human body, covered in red scales, and with fire snakes piercing his ears, the ancestral witch Zhu Rong pointed a finger, and instantly a fissure appeared in the mountains and rivers thousands of miles away, with volcanoes surging and lava shooting into the sky.

The Ancestral Witches Gonggong, Xuanming, Houtu, and Qiangliang all demonstrated in Su Mu's mind their innate divine abilities.

It seems that Su Mu is being asked to choose a direction for his growth.