Chapter 1241: Scared Half to Death!
The flame of life force burned hot in Greed-possessed Meng Hao’s eyes, as if a sea of fire existed therein. However, that sea of flames was being reduced as the fourth Nirvana Fruit in his forehead sucked it away.
That Nirvana Fruit seemed like a bottomless pit!
When Meng Hao had absorbed the fourth Nirvana Fruit before, he had only been able to endure for a brief moment before stopping. The Nirvana Fruit had emerged from him of its own volition; had it not, he would have been sucked dry.
Furthermore, every time he used it resulted in a period of weakness afterward, a time that had to be spent in recovery. That was the obstacle preventing him from stepping into the Ancient Realm; if he could not fully absorb that fourth Nirvana Fruit, then he would never be able to do so.
However, this was something that couldn’t be rushed. Each time he absorbed a Nirvana Fruit, it required a terrifying amount of life force; furthermore, that amount increased with each Nirvana Fruit. By the time he had reached the fourth, the amount required was virtually impossible to describe.
Unless he came across some sort of good fortune that could aid him, Meng Hao had been under the a.s.sumption that it would take a very, very long time before he could truly fuse with the fourth Nirvana Fruit.
Although he wasn’t very anxious about the matter, Greed, who was in possession of his body, was.
“Dammit, what is this thing!?!?” Greed growled, eyes wide. He was a stubborn person; all he had to do was let the fourth Nirvana Fruit pop out, and he would be in no danger.
However, he was stubborn and proud, and almost refused to believe that he couldn"t succeed in this situation.
“I refuse to believe that I, Greed, can’t absorb some c.r.a.ppy Dao Fruit thing like this!!” He gritted his teeth, and instead of undoing the seal he had created, he caused more of his life force Essence to rumble through his body into the fourth Nirvana Fruit.
ROOOOOAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!
If the fourth Nirvana Fruit were capable of feeling emotion, it would be screaming in joy. Previously, Meng Hao had been incapable of satiating its desires, and thus had never been able to maintain a fusion. But now, with Greed’s willing help, the fourth Nirvana Fruit... was actually being absorbed!!
As soon as the process truly began, Greed’s face flickered as about ten percent of his life force Essence was almost immediately absorbed. He hesitated, but then gritted his teeth.
“I refuse to believe!!” He drew fully on his life force Essence, pouring it into the fourth Nirvana Fruit. He could already imagine what it would be like if he fully fused with this fruit. The body he had possessed would experience a cultivation base breakthrough, and once that happened, shocking transformations would occur.
Soon, twenty percent of Greed"s life force Essence had been absorbed. He s.h.i.+vered, and fear began to s.h.i.+ne in his eyes, and yet he gritted his teeth. All the way to... thirty percent, and then forty!!
When forty percent of his life force Essence was absorbed, the flame of life force in his eyes grew incomparably dim, and terror filled his eyes. As of this moment, whatever obsessive stubborness he had was thrust to the very back of his mind.
Forty percent of his life force Essence still wasn"t enough to fully absorb the fruit, leaving Greed so frightened that his face was pale. Without any further hesitation, he reached up to undo the seal on his forehead.
“Fudge, this fruit is too freaky! I"m done fooling around with it. Done, alright?!?!
“Get OUT!” Greed roared. He no longer wished to absorb the terrifying Dao Fruit. He was scared, so he tried to force the fruit out, but... the Nirvana Fruit was already more than half absorbed. How could it possibly just stop?
Furthermore, although Greed’s actions caused the fruit to pause momentarily, there was apparently some bizarre force that caused the Nirvana Fruit to resume sucking away at Greed’s life force even more voraciously than before.
“NO!!” Greed’s eyes were wide, and suddenly, a sensation of crisis filled his heart, something that Greed couldn’t accept. He could well imagine that if he continued, and the fruit completed the fusion process, then all of his life force could very well be sucked away.
He would become the first person throughout all the years... to actually be killed by the very body he had possessed....
The mere thought of that left Greed petrified. His expression was one of astonishment as yet another ten percent of his life force Essence was rapidly sucked away.
“Fudge! What the h.e.l.l is this thing?!?!” Greed s.h.i.+vered as he realized that only about half of his life force Essence remained. His heart felt as if it were being sliced with a sharp blade, filling him with indescribable pain.
After all, his life force Essence was his most precious possession, and the entire foundation of why his soul could not be exterminated.
Greed’s eyes were crimson, and he was shaking violently as he sped through the necropolis. The flames in his eyes were very weak, and even showed signs that they might be extinguished soon.
In his heart, he felt deep regret, regret that he had thought too much of himself, and looked down on this tiny fruit.
“But wait, there"s still another way. The stronger this body is, the more it will help me. I’m gonna go for it!” Gritting his teeth, Greed flashed through the air in a gray streak. He moved with incredible speed, the lightning dancing around his head ensuring that he could break through any wall that got in his path.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared in another corridor, where two Ancient Realm cultivators were proceeding along cautiously. Before they could react, Greed turned into a blur as he pounced on one of them.
That cultivator let out a bloodcurdling scream as his body withered. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into dust, and a white mist which instantly merged into Meng Hao’s body and was then absorbed by the fourth Nirvana Fruit.
The other cultivator was shocked, and immediately began to flee. Performing an incantation gesture, he unleashed divine abilities and magical items. And yet, they were completely useless against the gray blur that was Greed. In the blink of an eye, he burst through them, and latched onto the cultivator.
Another miserable shriek could be heard as the cultivator’s body withered away into dust. The white mist poured into Meng Hao, who then flickered, vanis.h.i.+ng. When he appeared again, he was in yet another corridor, near another Ancient Realm cultivator, who was speeding along. A moment later, a gray blur overwhelmed him.
It was in this manner that Greed’s slaughter was carried out. He was a gray blur that sped about devouring and killing in the necropolis. No one who encountered him could escape.
One, two, three... ten, fifteen, twenty....
In a very short time, Greed-possessed Meng Hao had slaughtered numerous cultivators in his attempt to fully absorb the fourth Nirvana Fruit. Even so, it could only reduce the speed with which his own life force Essence was being sucked away.
“I need more life force!” Greed growled, on the verge of becoming unhinged. He began moving faster, killing faster, until finally, his divine sense picked up another of the Dao Realm experts that had been pulled into the necropolis.
“He’s next!” Greed’s eyes were sunken. He had killed a Dao Realm expert already, and this would be his second. He burst through a nearby wall into a corridor, a bit behind a figure who was speeding along.
Greed’s entrance caused the man to turn and look back, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng like lightning. It was an old man, one of the two 2-Essences Dao Realm cultivators who had tried to interfere with Meng Hao outside of the necropolis.
“Meng Hao!” he said. However, he almost immediately realized that something was off. Although Meng Hao had seemed strong before, it had been nothing more than that: strength. Now, he seemed terrifying, superior in a way that caused the old man’s heart to tremble with fear.
Without the slightest hesitation, he fell back. Simultaneously, though, Meng Hao’s body was compelled by Greed to charge forward in attack.
“Dammit, how dare you run!” The maddened Greed’s words were somewhat illogical, but inwardly, he was both irritated and afraid.... In his fear of having his life completely sucked away, this Dao Realm cultivator was essentially a surrogate to take his place in death.
To see that surrogate running away left Greed enraged. He increased his speed, making it impossible for the Dao Realm cultivator to flee. Seeing this, the cultivator suddenly turned while performing an incantation gesture, a fierce glow rising up in his eyes.
“Lightning!” He roared, causing numerous red lightning bolts to suddenly shoot out from his skin. They merged together into the image of a huge lightning bolt, which then exploded out, transforming into a rapidly-expanding lightning globe. This old man was a decisive person, so he quickly bit his tongue and spit out some blood.
“Water!” he roared. A red mist spread out from the blood, as if the blood and the water were being separated. What was left behind was only a drop of water, which was also Essence formed from the old man’s life force.
That drop of water could contain entire worlds, and as the glow of lightning shone down on it, it began to emanate a seven-colored glow, within which numerous land ma.s.ses could be seen. Instantly, that light shot toward Greed.
The flickering lightning swirled around the drop of water and then also shot toward Greed.
Earlier, if Meng Hao had gone up against this old man’s lightning and water Essences, he would definitely have had to unleash the Paragon Bridge. But Greed-possessed Meng Hao simply smiled.
Then... he opened his mouth and actually consumed the drop of water!
As he swallowed, a ma.s.sive rumbling filled Meng Hao’s body. As for the boundless lightning, he absorbed that too!
Unexpectedly, it didn"t hurt him at all, which caused the old man’s eyes to go wide. Shocked, he was just about to flee when Greed-controlled Meng Hao laughed viciously.
“Now, it’s my turn... The Wolf Conquers All!” Greed said, his voice strange and sinister. He lunged forward in the direction of the old man, mouth wide. [1. Quick reminder that Greed’s name contains the character for wolf]
As he breathed in, no force of absorption appeared, and yet the old man let out a miserable shriek. Rumbling could be heard as boundless white mist poured out of him toward Greed, who immediately sucked it in.
It was a bizarre sight; the old man screamed as his body withered up. In the blink of an eye, he turned into a desiccated corpse, which then collapsed into ash.
All of his life force had been consumed by Greed!