Chapter 75: Corpse Mother (Shi Xing Mu)

This might be the only opportunity.

Miss it, and the chance would be gone forever.

Su Li continued to descend alongside the building. Perhaps due to the terror of the monstrous creature above, the vast number of monsters that had been gathered in the lower levels of the building had vanished. Su Li saw no Corpse Beasts or Sea Spiders on either the 29th or 28th floor—they were completely empty.

Su Li quickly sank to the 26th floor. From a distance, he saw corpses floating in the water. These corpses, which previously had translucent tendrils, now had those tendrils pulled out. They were all gathered above, focusing all their energy on the frenzied Nightmare Beast.

“What kind of monster is this? Are these countless translucent tendrils its body, or is its true body still below?”

Su Li pondered as he sank. He dared not get too close. He stayed concealed behind the building on one side, observing from a distance while rapidly descending. If the situation turned sour, he could quickly flee.

He activated the “Peering Rune” several times, but unfortunately, he couldn’t capture any data on the translucent tendrils.

In his observation, the deeper he went, the more corpses he saw—not just human bodies, but also the corpses of various monsters. The number of translucent tendrils increased as well.

As the intertwining tendrils grew more numerous, the Nightmare Beast above was gradually enveloped. The countless translucent tendrils converged, forming a gigantic fleshy cocoon that trapped the Nightmare Beast inside.

The cocoon bound the Nightmare Beast, dragging it downward.

Su Li had now sunk to the level of the 20th floor. He looked up and saw the enormous fleshy cocoon, containing the Nightmare Beast, sinking toward him. He knew this was bad.

He hadn’t expected the Nightmare Beast to be captured so quickly, without the mutual destruction he had hoped for. With the unknown monster retreating to its nest, his chance to benefit from their conflict was lost.

Su Li stopped, secretly sighed, and resigned himself to leaving the area since the opportunity was gone.

Just then, the translucent fleshy cocoon suddenly exploded. The sudden event startled Su Li, but he quickly understood: the Nightmare Beast was bound but not killed. Although it was being dragged down, seemingly without resistance, it had launched an “Ultrasonic Attack” at the critical moment.

The power of the “Ultrasonic Wave” was immense. It instantly tore the cocoon open, snapping countless tendrils and delivering a heavy blow to the unknown monster below. The Nightmare Beast escaped the bind, with numerous broken tendrils still embedded in its abdomen. It frantically paddled its limbs, trying to ascend and flee.

Although it had detonated the cocoon and severed countless tendrils, the Nightmare Beast was clearly terrified of this unknown creature and dared not fight it head-on, only wanting to quickly escape the area.

Just then, a colossal mass of translucent material suddenly surged up from the deep water below. Su Li, hiding and observing from a corner of the building, instantly widened his eyes. At this moment, he finally saw the large “flower” Xu Xuehui had spoken of.

Indeed, there was a translucent large flower deep underwater. The flower had six petals, and when fully opened, its diameter exceeded ten meters.

The countless translucent tendrils were actually growing from the six petals of this gigantic flower.

The most bizarre feature was that the center of the flower didn’t hold a pistil or stamen, but a face.

It was somewhat blurry due to the distance, but from Su Li’s angle, the translucent, strange face looked vaguely human, even possessing recognizable, though indistinct, features.

A colossal translucent flower with a human face in the center and petals covered in tendrils. Su Li had never imagined such a bizarre creature existed. Just looking at it from afar filled him with an inexplicable dread.

The flower monster had already bound the Nightmare Beast and only needed to drag it down to consume it. But the Nightmare Beast had used its sonic attack to detonate the cocoon and escape. It was now too late for the creature to capture the Nightmare Beast with its tendrils again.

The entity’s true form finally moved. The six-petaled flower with the human face surged up from the depths at lightning speed, pursuing the fleeing Nightmare Beast.

The vertical eye-like lines rose on Su Li’s brow. He activated the “Peering Rune” again. This time, focusing on the flower-face monster, he finally captured information.

“Corpse Mother (Shi Xing Mu). A mysterious lifeform rooted in the earth, containing a mysterious treasure. It lives by grounding itself in the earth and grows by absorbing the vital energy of corpses. The root stalk is its only fatal weakness. Severing the root stalk will kill the Corpse Mother and allow the acquisition of the mysterious treasure within its body.”

Su Li’s heart pounded as he processed the message.

“So this monster is called the ‘Corpse Mother’.” Su Li watched the huge flower ascend rapidly like lightning, catching up to the Nightmare Beast. The petals snapped shut, binding the Nightmare Beast inside.

The Nightmare Beast struggled violently within the closed petals.

At this moment, Su Li also saw a slender green root stalk extending from the bottom of the closed giant flower. It was about the thickness of an adult’s arm and trailed down into the deep water.

According to the newly acquired information, this root stalk was clearly anchored to the ground below and was the Corpse Mother’s only weakness. Severing the root stalk would kill it.

Moreover, killing the Corpse Mother would grant access to some kind of mysterious treasure within its body.

This thought made Su Li’s heart pound wildly.

“The large ‘flower’ Xu Xuehui spoke of is this Corpse Mother. And the ‘treasure’ she mentioned must be the mysterious treasure inside its body. The root stalk is its only weakness. No wonder it didn’t use its main body to capture the Nightmare Beast initially—it was avoiding exposing the root stalk below, which would reveal its weakness and carry risk.”

Su Li looked up at the violently shaking Corpse Mother. The Nightmare Beast, encased in the petals, was still struggling. Unless it could use its sonic attack again, escape was unlikely. Its struggles were quickly diminishing. It was almost done for.

“Do I take the risk? The chance will be gone soon. The Nightmare Beast is almost finished.”

Thoughts raced through Su Li’s mind. He gripped the machete he carried in his right hand. The veins on the back of his hand bulged.

The root stalk wasn’t thick; he could probably sever it with a single strike. But the thought that truly made Su Li hesitate was the uncertainty of whether the Corpse Mother would die instantly after the root stalk was severed. If he cut the stalk and the Corpse Mother thrashed around for a while before dying, he would be in serious trouble.

Even the powerful Nightmare Beast was easily captured by it. If he cut the root stalk and the creature didn’t die immediately, he would be doomed.

“However, according to the Peering Rune’s information, that possibility should be slim. Severing the root stalk should kill it instantly.”

(End of Chapter)