OSI Chapter 18 – Jasper Seven Stars Mantis Demon
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Despite being the appointed representative to safeguard the isolated portal, Xu Liao still doesn’t know how the portal actually looks like. He had only been to the back of the house once, and this courtyard only had one exit, so he did not pay much attention to the mound before. If it wasn’t for Sun Bo Fang standing in front of it and caressing it, Xu Liao would definitely not give it another glance. Xu Liao looked at the hill for a while with a puzzled expression. Then he looked around and he tilted his head in confusion because he could not see the portal anywhere.
Sun Bo Fang noticed Xu Liao’s confusion. He chuckled and said:
“Do you wish to know about the origin of the Void world?”
Xu Liao laughed awkwardly and replied:
“Actually, I don’t have much curiosity to begin with, so I naturally wouldn’t want to know.”
Sun Bo Fang then just laughed and spoke with some ridicule in his voice.
“Heh. You are really interesting! But even if you are curious or not, I would still tell you. If you do not understand the origin of this demonic world, and died a wronged death, I would have lost a big chance. I dived right into the inner northern city to grab this opportunity and paid a big price for it; I will not squander it so easily.”
Xu Liao felt numb in his head and just merely gave a crooked smile.
“So, you want to tell me about the world whether I wish it or not?”
Sun Bo Fang nodded.
“The Undead Tree Blood pulse is extremely rare. The person who inherited it will be able to travel the three worlds. It can ignore all the forbidden spells and formations. So, only you with the Undead Tree Blood pulse will be able to enter this Void. If I could enter myself, why I would have spent all those efforts to rush here to the northern city and risk my life by killing the Storm Legion members and capture you alive?”
Xu Liao was really confused, but he knew that this is the start of something way above his league and would be bad if he lost his life in the process. He immediately activated the dark demonic energy and tried to escape by phasing into the ground.
Xu Liao knew that he could not defeat Sun Bo Fang, but he was confident in his dark demonic energy’s phasing ability. He did not try to escape early because he was afraid to provoke Sun Bo Fang, however at this point he had no choice left. If he didn’t escape, he would be forced to enter the so-called Void world. Although Xu Liao was not certain of what actually lies inside, but judging from Sun Bo Fang’s att.i.tude, he knew that it would be very dangerous inside. The chance of his survival is close to none.
However, contrary to Xu Liao expectations, Sun Bo Fang did not do anything to stop Xu Liao, but instead he just laughed while staring at Xu Liao slowly sinking into the ground. Xu Liao suddenly let out a yell as he suddenly rebounded back up. Sun Bo Fang merely looked at him with a mocking expression and said:
“The entrance of this Void world has a very powerful forbidden spell. Even I can only enter this place with the help of the bronze key. Do you think that with your abilities, you could escape from here?”
Xu Liao dispersed his dark demonic energy and asked:
“Then why can the people from the Storm Legion enter? And didn’t you mention that I could travel between three worlds, ignoring the forbidden spells? So you were lying to me?”
Sun Bo Fang laughed loudly and explained:
“The bamboo door isn’t forbidden. It is only an illusion. The forbidden zone only applies to the area surrounding this mound. For now, you are just a mere sapling. The Undead Tree Blood pulse can travel between three worlds, ignoring all of the forbidden spells, but that only applies to those that have matured. A small brat like you who had only just awakened, it is simply not possible for you to break through the forbidden spells.”
Xu Liao’s eyes reddened with anger and spat.
“Anyway, you are just a liar! I will not believe you again!”
Sun Bo Fang was shocked slightly. “You are not afraid that I will kill you?”
Xu Liao let out a cold laugh and said with a resolute tone:
“Since I am going to die, what am I still afraid of?”
However, not only did Sun Bo Fang feel no anger, instead he gave a thumbs up towards Xu Liao and said:
“Very good! You are smart, and got guts. I really do not have any intention to kill you. If you can help me retrieve something from this Void world, not only I would let you go, but I would even give you some benefits.”
Xu Liao held no restraint in his demands now that he had openly failed to escape.
“Show me what benefits you have first!”
Sun Bo Fang whipped out a box from his pocket and tossed it over to Xu Liao.
“You want the benefit? Then I shall give you the benefit!”
The box is transparent. It had a rather simple design with no intricate curves or cuttings. Inside the box, there was a dark green coloured mantis, posing aggressively with his two sickles raised up high. Despite being only a small bug, it looked really pomp. On the back of the dark green coloured mantis, there are seven silver spots. The silver spots aren’t round, but almost similar to the shape of skulls.
Although the box looks rather plain, Xu Liao didn’t dare to accept the box. Judging from how Sun Bo Fang sent out all those black beetles to devour the men, this dark green mantis gave Xu Liao a sense of fear. He then asked with hesitation in his voice:
“What is this? Don’t tell me you’re going to release countless of mantises into my body and leave a trap to kill me any time you wish?”
Sun Bo Fang just shook his head and sighed.
“Why do I have to go through so much trouble just to kill you if I wanted to? I can just kill you by simply raising my hand. I spent more than ten years to cultivate this fighting beast, the Jasper Seven Stars Mantis Demon. This demon is to be used together with the Seven Stars Praying Mantis Boxing. Even if it is used by a newbie like you, it is good enough to overwhelm demons that are within two hundred years old.”
Xu Liao knit his brows in doubt as he looked at the small mantis. He then asked curiously.
“It knows the Praying Mantis Boxing? Absolutely wonderful. So how do I use this small bug for battles? Do I just throw it out and let it use its sickle to cut others? Just how useful can this little bug even be?”
Sun Bo Fang paused for a while and then laughed. He squashed the box with his palms and a ball of green light emerged from his palm. The ball of green light suddenly sped up and shot into Xu Liao’s chest even before he had the time to react.
Xu Liao’s body stiffened in fear as cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He didn’t know exactly what did Sun Bo Fang did to him. Just as Xu Liao activated his demonic energy to check his body, an emerald beam of light within his chest burst forth and formed a circular shaped screen in front Xu Liao.
This emerald screen doesn’t seem to exist physically. It looked like a projection, like a hologram, but the source could not be seen and it just floated in the air. It was truly a technological wonder. Then, suddenly a sweet voice rang in Xu Liao’s brain.
“Suitable host found. Activating Fight Beast Jasper Seven Stars Mantis Demon. Loading Battle System… Loading Battle Intelligent a.s.sistant System… Loading Life Protection System… Loading Demonic Energy Transformation Sequence… Loading Demonic Energy Growth Furnace… Loading Immortal Seven Stars Praying Mantis Boxing… …”
Lines of code flashed past onto the emerald screen projection. Over ten programs automatically installed on its own. It didn’t have any option to close, and Xu Liao could only look at them actively installing and loading.
After everything had completed loading, all the text on the screen suddenly went blank. A moment later, two lines of words appeared on the screen with a solemn explanation behind it…
Translated by Gary. Edited by Jason