Chapter 260: Snail

Feng Ling returned to the plaza—

The Black Flood Dragon was still lying on the ground, its body now covered in even more swollen, tumor-like growths than before.

Two Pseudo-Gods gathered around the Black Flood Dragon, the flesh of their lower bodies melding together like melted putty.

Meanwhile, Mouse Monsters continuously scurried from every street and alley surrounding the plaza. As if summoned or drawn in, they scrambled over one another to rush the Pseudo-Gods, melting into the fleshy tumors and accelerating the growth of the protrusions on the Black Flood Dragon.

‘This is bad,’ Feng Ling thought. ‘If these flesh mounds keep growing and reproducing, forming another “mountain,” won’t they be able to create several more Divine Travel Teams?’

She raised her serpentine tail and swept it forcefully at the charging Mouse Monsters! Some were smashed into a pulp, while others were driven back by her Spiritual Suppression.

Her colossal serpentine body guarded the perimeter of the plaza, not advancing any further.

This was because Ye Zheng had also transformed into her second form and was currently brawling with one of the Pseudo-Gods. The two spiritual powers were clashing violently. Feng Ling getting any closer would only add to the chaos and interfere with Ye Zheng.

While intercepting the Mouse Monsters, she watched the battle from the sidelines, trying to analyze her opponent’s weaknesses.

Not far away, Ye Zheng’s body had doubled in size and she now had six arms. With her size advantage, she had a green-faced, fang-tusked Pseudo-God pinned down and was beating it relentlessly!

Its massive skull was scalped, its short, thin arms gruesomely ripped off.

From Ye Zheng’s bloody and frantic attacks, Feng Ling could guess how the Old Dragon King had met his end.

Her claws pierced the Pseudo-God’s body, pulling out large clumps of rice-grain-like tumors. Mixed with the thick blood, it splashed across the ground like sago in strawberry juice.

Countless voices spilled out from the torn flesh—

“I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!”

“I want to get stronger! Stronger!…”

“I’m starving! I’m so hungry!”

…

Just like the Pseudo-God Feng Ling had killed, this one was both fragile and tenacious. Its life force was hidden in every inch of its flesh, making it incredibly difficult to kill.

The unending stream of Mouse Monsters was like a constant supply of ammunition for the Pseudo-God.

Feng Ling blocked two intersections, but the plaza itself was a hub connected in all directions. Mouse Monsters continued to appear from the other streets.

She couldn’t help but grumble inwardly, ‘What is Xu Yiming doing? Intercepting air?’

Then, she looked toward the Black Flood Dragon, which was now almost completely covered in tumors.

‘I’m afraid,’ she thought, ‘that the Mouse Monsters will only stop this sacrificial ritual when the Maze Master is well and truly dead.’

But with the Pseudo-Gods protecting it, how could they possibly kill the Maze Master?

Right now, Ye Zheng’s advantage was starting to wane.

She had torn the green-faced, fang-tusked Pseudo-God to a pile of shredded meat, but in that time, the other Pseudo-God had frantically swelled and grown. Ye Zheng’s attacks became visibly weaker—not fast enough, not strong enough, even becoming somewhat feeble.

Feng Ling frowned as she watched, growing more and more puzzled.

‘What’s wrong with Ye Zheng?’

‘Didn’t she have enough to eat?’

Just then, Ye Zheng’s figure swayed. She lost her balance and staggered backward several steps.

Not only had her spiritual power weakened significantly, but she could no longer even maintain her second form.

‘Why is this happening?’

Feng Ling observed the Pseudo-God more closely. Its large head had a kind and serene face, like a Buddha in a temple, but its body was a tangled mass of countless humanoid rats. As its body continued to expand, the Black Flood Dragon was almost completely enveloped by its agglomerated flesh.

‘Maybe I should go help?’ she mused. ‘Ye Zheng doesn’t look like she’s doing so well. If I release my Spiritual Suppression now, it probably wouldn’t make things worse, right?’

Just as Feng Ling was hesitating on whether to intervene, Ye Zheng’s body suddenly shrank back to its original size, and she stumbled sideways, falling into the fleshy sludge—

Like a moth fallen into muddy water, she floundered wretchedly, tearing off half a wing in her struggle before retreating in alarm to the edge of the plaza, gasping for breath!

Feng Ling witnessed this, completely baffled.

‘When did Ye Zheng get so weak?’

Feng Ling directed her serpentine body to slither over to Ye Zheng’s side. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

Ye Zheng was completely drained. The first words out of her mouth were, “I’m so hungry…”

Feng Ling’s heart skipped a beat.

Then she heard Ye Zheng add, “Take me to the Five Grains God!”

“You scared me!” Feng Ling couldn’t help saying. “Hearing just that first sentence, I thought you’d been brainwashed by the wishes!”

Panting, Ye Zheng said resentfully, “These Pseudo-Gods can not only summon Believers, create illusions, and suppress spiritual power, but this Smiling Bodhisattva can also latch onto me and absorb my energy!”

“Absorb energy?” Feng Ling was stunned. “No wonder you were getting weaker the more you fought.”

“Stop talking, it’s coming over!” Ye Zheng was both furious and frantic. “Hurry up and tell me where the Five Grains God is!”

Feng Ling turned to look. The Pseudo-God, which should have been at the center of the plaza, had now swelled to a size comparable to her own. It resembled a giant snail made of tangled flesh, carrying a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood on its back and crowned with the smiling face of a Buddha, as it slowly crawled toward them.

Although it was only about a fifth of the size of the previous mountain, its movement was still astonishingly imposing.

Feng Ling never expected it to be able to move.

When she first discovered the mountain, it had been immobile.

Even after two explosions, it had only split off Pseudo-Gods to forage for food; the mountain itself had remained stationary. This had sent a false signal to Feng Ling’s brain—that the Maze Master couldn’t move.

Now, the Maze Master was moving.

It was encased in layers of Pseudo-Gods and flesh, its volume immense, its spiritual power bizarre, and it possessed the ability to absorb energy.

‘How can I kill it?’

“Go straight, turn at the second intersection, and you’ll find a Divine Statue of the Five Grains God in a shop with a red advertising sign,” Feng Ling said, her eyes fixed on the approaching monster. “I’ll hold it off here and buy you some time.”

Ye Zheng got up, seething with rage. “When I get back, I’m going to kill it!”

Ye Zheng dragged her injured wing and turned to leave. She was truly so hungry she was on the verge of collapse; even her retreating figure was unsteady.

Feng Ling’s gaze returned to the giant snail.

Her opponent shared her weakness: its immense size made movement exceptionally difficult. In its case, the problem was even more severe.

Her serpentine body at least had strong ventral scales and muscles, but this disgusting amalgamation before her lacked any proper physical structure. It could only rely on adhesion to crawl slowly, which was why Feng Ling had compared it to a snail.

Feng Ling analyzed further. ‘In this situation, dodging or escaping would be easy enough, but how should I attack?’

‘Just damaging the outer flesh is meaningless. As long as a single Mouse Monster exists in the Maze, it can use their sacrifices to repair itself.’

‘The key is still the Maze Master itself.’

‘So, if I use my cone spikes to pierce its body, and I go deep enough, can I impale the Black Flood Dragon wrapped up inside it?’

With this thought, Feng Ling immediately took action.

She slithered before the giant snail, and the six python-like cone spikes on her back shot out like sharp arrows! With a SQUELCH, they plunged into the flesh!

Feng Ling felt she had used her full strength, but the impact didn’t feel as deep as she had expected.

Instead, there was a soft, spongy sensation, as if what was hidden inside the flesh wasn’t the Black Flood Dragon but a thick sponge that had absorbed the ferocious momentum of her cone spikes.

‘Is this the special energy-absorbing ability Ye Zheng warned about?’