Chapter 193 — The Toad’s Former Peak

“Pudu Cihang, do you recognize this old man—”

The voice resounded through heaven and earth, shaking the eight directions. Buildings throughout the city creaked and swayed; the townsfolk standing in the streets with upturned faces, along with the chickens and dogs in their homes and the wild beasts along the foothills, did not dare make the slightest sound.

Amid a deathly silence, only the groaning of structures rocking back and forth could be heard, dust sifting down in soft showers.

“Is that a mountain?!” “It’s a demon, right…?”

“Bigger than the last one… run!”

“Ah, my heavens!!” “Everyone, get back inside!” “A monster’s here!”

On the crowded long street, someone suddenly shouted. A person turned and ran, startling the others nearby into fleeing as well. A chaotic swell of noise burst forth. In the distance, figures all over the capital scattered from the streets and rushed back into their houses. A forgotten child wailed aloud, left standing alone amid the surging crowd. Before long, his absent-minded parents ran back, scooped him up, and only then dashed home.

There were also the bold who stayed by the roadside, craning their necks to stare at the mountain-like black shadow. As if dazzled, one raised a hand and pointed, crying out in alarm—

“It moved!” “Look, that shadow moved!!!”

Among those who had scattered, some stopped and turned to look at the distant sky. The moonlight that had been obscured faintly emerged, revealing a trace of cold silver frost.

Then… came a thunderous boom as a foot slammed down.

Ten li east of the suburbs, a webbed toad’s foot crashed into the earth, shattering the ground. Clods of soil splashed up like massive boulders, smashing into great trees and toppling them root and all.

Pudu Cihang, whose insect body was likewise enormous, had both antennae snap taut in that instant. In the slivers of moonlight that seeped through, wart-like bulges the size of burial mounds could be seen, densely packed and swelling.

“Hiss~~”

With a low droning hiss, it turned its red head to slither and drift off in another direction. Yet atop the dust-shrouded black shadow, a long shape burst forth, thrusting into the moonlit space—a scarlet tongue shot out and lashed around the centipede’s elongated body.

Boom!

The webbed foot pressed down deep, lifted, then stepped forward again, stirring a ring of gale-force wind and dust. A voice, solemn as a bronze bell, echoed between heaven and earth.

“A mere centipede demon dares try to flee before this old man!?”

The long tongue snapped taut, flicking inside the toad’s mouth. Pudu Cihang—who had already fled more than ten zhang—now hung suspended with his hundred legs kicking in midair. Staring at the scholar and Daoist who stood nearly a zhang away, his pincer-like mouthparts clacked a few times sharply as his entire body was dragged backward.

“This… this is that old toad??”

The Daoist gazed at the colossal figure, so vast he could see only as high as its thighs, and gulped.

Beside him, Lu Liangsheng—using a technique to steady his injuries—said nothing, only nodded. Reflected in his eyes, the gigantic centipede’s dense forest of sharp legs stabbed into the earth, yet it was still being dragged along, gouging two long, deep trenches across the ground.

“Hissss—”

Pudu Cihang twisted and shrieked wildly. His countless legs clawed frantically at the earth, yet could not halt the force pulling him backward. Amid the shrill hissing, his front half suddenly flipped around. With the rasp of chitin grinding, he whipped his red head about and bit toward the long tongue coiled around his midsection.

Whoosh!

The scarlet tongue suddenly snapped back. From the darkness, a webbed toad’s foot shot out, seized Pudu Cihang’s head, and slammed it downward with brutal force.

Boom!

The centipede’s head smashed into the ground, blasting out a huge crater as soil and stone exploded outward.

In the distance, Lu Liangsheng rose and summoned the scroll “Netherworld’s Soul-Calling Burial”. Holding it before him, waves of mana rippled outward, deflecting the flying rocks and hardened clods of earth off to the sides.

“I thought Master only knew how to eat and boast…”

In his pupils, the reflected scene showed the terrifying figure half-lit by moonlight—like Mount Tai collapsing from above—straddling Pudu Cihang’s long body. One webbed foot pinned the centipede’s head, while the other swept through the moonlight and came crashing down.

“Dare strike this old man’s disciple!”

Boom!

The webbed toad’s foot slammed viciously onto the centipede’s head shell. Surging force blasted outward, and the surrounding forest crashed down in a widening ring.

“You dare strike this old man’s disciple?!”

The pressing foot lifted, and amid the thunderous voice, smashed down again.

Boom!

Pudu Cihang’s entire long body—hundred legs and antennae alike—was pounded rigid.

“Dare strike this old man’s disciple.”

“I’ll teach you to hit this old man’s disciple!!”

“Go on, look down on this old man!”

With each shouted line from the Toad Daoist, the enormous webbed foot rose with wind and thunder, fell, rose, fell…

Boom!

Boom!

Boom boom—

The armor of the centipede’s red head split with spiderweb cracks. Pale yellow fluid seeped out, sticking to the toad’s foot and stretching into viscous strands.

Earlier, Pudu Cihang could still hiss a few times. Now, even its cries had nearly vanished.

After a while, the smashing foot stopped. The Toad Daoist casually grabbed one of the hundred legs and snapped it off with a crisp crack.

“Hiss—” Pudu Cihang lifted his red head, letting out a long, agonized shriek.

The severed leg was stuffed straight into the toad’s mouth. Like chewing sugarcane, he crunch-crunched, sucking out the juices and tender flesh, then ptui! spat out the shattered shell.

“No real skill to speak of, but the taste’s not bad.”

Crack.

Another insect leg was snapped off and stuffed into the toad’s mouth. Beneath the crushing weight of the toad, Pudu Cihang was jolted awake by the searing pain.

“Hiss~~”

“Transform into a dragon… transform into a dragon……”

With its insect eyes, it gazed toward the distant outline of the brightly lit city. Amid its hissing, its head suddenly drilled downward into the earth. Channeling an earth-escape technique, its hundred legs clawed furiously as it burrowed rapidly into the soil.

“The centipede demon’s escaping!”

“What about this giant toad demon?!”

Several Chief Judges of the City God’s Office hovering in the night sky were about to give chase when the white-robed City God beside them raised a hand to stop them, his gaze sweeping toward the other great demon.

“We Yin Gods must place protecting the common folk as our foremost duty. Go guard the city, lest the people inside be caught in the aftermath!”

“Yes!”

Divine light flashed. Trailing golden flames, they instantly shifted and flew toward Tianzhi Capital. Below, upon the ravaged wilderness, the Toad Daoist stood like a mountain. His toad eyes swept toward a tree off to one side, where his tiny disciple stood, and he gave a faint nod.

“Liangsheng, watch closely—this is what your master looked like at his peak!”

Having restored his true demon form, the Toad Daoist could easily sense where that centipede fiend was heading. A moment later, a pair of enormous webbed feet strode forward. The earth thundered—boom boom boom—as forests and roads collapsed beneath his steps.

“Pudu Cihang!”

After more than ten strides, his upright, majestic voice rang out. A webbed foot lifted high.

“Get out of here for this old man—!”

The raised foot slammed into the ground. Cracks split outward in all directions. Ahead, the earth suddenly exploded open—soil blasting skyward—as a long, whiskered shadow with a hundred writhing legs burst from underground, hovering in midair as it shot toward the city.

Boom boom boom…

Thunderous footsteps chased after it. As one lifted webbed foot swung forward, the rounded pad casually brushed a farmhouse. With a single bang, the wooden walls and roof were lifted off as one and hurled into the darkness like flying sand and scattering stones.

Inside the now roofless, wall-less house, a farmer and his wife crouched in the corner, clutching each other. Watching the colossal figure stride past overhead, they trembled violently. When they came back to their senses, they looked around in confusion.

Muttering, they said: “…Where’s my house… how did it disappear…”