Chapter 283: Thwack Thwack Thwack!
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Squelch… squelch…
Xu Que tried again and again to pinch the meat-like surface. It made squishy noises every time he touched it, as if he were squeezing a piece of raw meat.
In fact, he noticed that there was nothing out of the ordinary on the rest of the surrounding stone walls—the substance was concentrated on this small section.
Immediately, Xu Que summoned the system.
"Blood sucker—I mean, system, find out what this shit is."
Whoosh!
A flash of white light appeared across Xu Que's eyes, followed shortly by a ring of notifications from the system.
Ding! "Test completed. Unknown creature detected, currently it is in a semi-conscious state. Confirm purchase of 'purifying water' to wake it up?"
"What? You mean this thing is a living creature? And that I need to waste 5000 Acting Tough Points to buy a bottle of purifying water to wake it up? Why the hell would I do that?"
Xu Que stared wide-eyed at the god-knows-what creature in front of him. What if after waking it up, it turned out to be an evil ancient spirit or some kind of monster that would only be worth some Experience Points after he killed it?
What would be the point, then? What was the worth of Experience Points anyway? Weren't the Acting Tough Points the most precious commodity out there, and the only one that he should focus on?
"No, system! I'm definitely not buying any purifying water!" said Xu Que without any hesitation.
Although he'd now accumulated over 10,000 Acting Tough Points so far, he was still unwilling to spend half of it on an unidentified creature. It was just too risky, and there was a high chance that the 5000 points would just go down the drain without bringing him any noticeable benefits at all.
Still, as the Act Tough King, Xu Que naturally possessed a very strong sense of curiosity.
After refusing the system's suggestion, he stood there and started to prod at the fleshy thing, trying to pull out the mysterious creature.
But after spending half a day's time doing so, the creature remained unresponsive and Xu Que was no more able to pull it out.
Xu Que even used the combined power of Soaring Dragon's Nine Transformation and the Killing Blade to try to pull the meaty blob out, but all his attempts remained unsuccessful as the creature stayed fixed upon the stone wall.
By that point, Xu Que suspected that the only way he could get the thing out of the wall was to shake up the whole mountain range!
"Damn it, you awful thing! Let's see how you react to this!" Xu Que then pulled out his Killing Blade and slashed it on the bizarre fleshy creature.
Thwack!
To his surprise, the moment the Killing Blade touched the fleshy creature, the attack deflected and bounced off the creature with incredible force. It was as if he'd used his fist to punch a huge cotton ball.
"Holy hell! I don't believe it!"
Xu Que raised his Killing Blade and once again swung it against the creature.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack, thwack, thwack...
Xu Que's actions had resulted in a strange sound resounding throughout the dim and silent passageway.
Still, no matter how hard he tried, nothing seemed to happen—until the very last moment when Xu Que was about to give up, as something odd began to occur.
Suddenly, the piece of meat on the stone wall dangled and wriggled about, followed by a shrill scream that came from behind the stone wall!
"Aaaargh! Holy hell! That hurt! Who would dare face a deity with such insolence!"
The voice that came from within the stone wall gave Xu Que such a fright that he almost jumped out of his skin. His eyes opened wide in incredulity. How could he have known that by stabbing the blob a few times, he would really awaken the creature inside?
More importantly, did this thing just claim that it was a deity? What kind of joke was that? What pathetic deity would end up locked up in a stone wall?
Xu Que raised his eyebrows and sneered.
"I am the Lord of the Immortal Kingdom," said Xu Que, "and the Emperor of Small Fleshy Pieces. Who are you to dare disturb my peace by screaming so loudly?"
The creature in the stone wall went silent for few moments before the sharp voice appeared again.
"Hmph!" exclaimed the voice. "Who is this little shit who dares to pretend to be the Lord of the Immortal Kingdom in front of a deity? How audacious of you! Wait! What is that in your hand? Don't hide it, you scoundrel, I saw it! It's a sword, isn't it? You're the one who stabbed my tongue!"
"Wait," said Xu Que, surprised. "You can see me?" He stealthily put the Killing Blade away in the storage space in the system. His face was full of horrified wonder. The thing was clearly locked up in the stone wall, so how had it managed to see him and what he was doing?
This kind of ability wasn't to be underestimated. It must at least be a divine soul at the Form Synthesis Stage to be that perceptive!
"You fool!" replied the deity in a threatening tone to Xu Que. "There's nothing that I cannot see. I'm telling you that you'll pay with your life for what you've done!"
Xu Que raised his eyebrows and smiled cheekily.
"Ha! You can't even get yourself out of the wall and you think that I'd take your threats seriously? I wonder what you'd do if I stab you a few more times!"
"Hmph! Don't be too arrogant, you little scumbag!" said the deity coldly. "I've only spent five hundred years unshackling myself from the stone wall's seal. I'll only need another two thousand years to get out of here. When that time comes, the first thing I'll do is to exact revenge on you!"
What? It had taken him five hundred years to get out of the stone wall's seal?
Well, that proved at least that this creature wasn't a mortal human being.
Xu Que couldn't suppress his laughter any longer as he shook his head. "Two thousand years? By then I would have long risen to the heavens and attained the status of a god. How would you find me to exact revenge then?"
Roarrrrrr!
A loud and fearsome roar rang out of the stone wall in reply to Xu Que's taunts. However, while the roar did indeed rumble the ground, it basically produced no other effect on Xu Que whatsoever.
Xu Que continued to examine the piece of flesh calmly and discovered that it really did resemble a tongue, just as the voice in the stone wall had claimed!
"You little rascal!" spat the voice. "You've really angered me now! You'll regret it when I get out of here in thousand years, because I will knock the air out of your lungs with just one punch! Don't you know that I had killed thousands of gods before getting trapped in this wall?"
"Uh huh, sure," said Xu Que, completely unimpressed. "If you really were that good, how did you end up inside the wall, then?"
"That is the only mistake I made," said the deity, his voice tinged with anger. "I was tricked by that bastard and took a wrong step, causing me to fall into this damned trap!"
"Alright, then. I've got to run now, there's much to do when one is a god, after all. Why don't you keep licking that stone wall, then? We'll meet in two thousand years. Farewell!"
Xu Que shook his head, no longer bothered to waste any more time with the creature. He turned away and began to leave.
But before he could get anywhere, the voice inside the stone wall erupted into a scream.
"Wait, young man! Don't go! How could you just leave after summoning a deity? Come back! I've got a gift for you!"
"I don't want it!" replied Xu Que, continuing to walk forward without looking back.
"Come back," pleaded the deity. "I can give you an unrivalled fighting skill!"
"Nope, don't want it."
"No, wait! You must be looking for the Sword Spirit, am I right? Hahaha, I know where the Sword Spirit is!"
"Oh?" Xu Que stopped in his tracks and turned his around. "Do you really know where the Sword Spirit is?"
"That's right," replied the deity proudly. "This Sword Catacomb was the place where that bastard had sealed the Sword Spirit. I'm only here too because the bastard had also fiendishly trapped me. But I must warn you that the Sword Spirit is an extremely fearsome deity."
"Alright, tell me where the Sword Spirit is then," said Xu Que, unsure if he could trust this strange deity.
"The Sword Spirit," said the deity, "is in the Sword Catacomb!"
Xu Que's face darkened immediately upon hearing the deity's reply. He was now seething with anger.
You piece of shit, who didn't know that the Sword Spirit was in the Sword Catacomb?
What kind of pathetic joke was this?
"Do you think that's funny, you wet pile of shit? Take this!"
Xu Que then pulled out the Killing Blade and struck it violently at the tongue in the wall.
"Hey, what are you trying to do?!" shouted the deity. "Don't you dare! This is outrageous! Don't you dare take a step closer to me… I'm going to punch you into oblivion when I get out! Now, now, young man, we can talk this through, don't be so rash… Ow! Ah…! Aaaaaargh! That hurts!"