Chapter 74: Pitch-black Strange Cat
After dealing with this Fallen Leaf Monster, Xilutiya felt slightly relaxed. Then she scanned the small forest clearing again with her gaze, searching for any similar monsters that might exist.
As expected, during the search, she discovered two more monsters disguised as leaves and killed them with her sword.
Black blood flowed along the sword blade, causing the blade to curl and twist wherever it went, looking as weird as earthworms.
This sword was probably ruined. Xilutiya couldn’t help but shake her head, but she had no better choice right now and could only make do with it.
After resting for a while, she headed up the mountain slope again. This time, no accidents happened—this clearing had no monsters—
But it had a weird tree.
A Twisted large tree stood in the center of the Colored Bubble field. Its broad tree canopy had no leaves, but instead various tumorous hanging strips. These hanging branches seemed to have grown all sorts of tumors, looking disgusting and weird.
If you can’t see enemies in a very chaotic and dangerous place, then the biggest enemy is probably right in front of you.
Xilutiya looked at this large tree from afar, not approaching rashly.
【Tumorous Large Tree】（Nature: Twisted）: A weird banyan tree variant with no leaves, but numerous branches covered in many tumors.
Considering that standing around forever wasn’t an option, Xilutiya picked up a stone and threw it at the large tree, but it didn’t trigger any reaction.
Could it be that she has to walk over herself to trigger a reaction? she couldn’t help but think.
Forget it, better not to take this risk. She’d rather take the detour down below than be grabbed by the large tree. What if she really couldn’t break free? She’d regret it.
Xilutiya decided to be cautious. Instead of continuing forward, she circled around the edge of the large tree, slowly moving to the opposite side before stepping back into the Gray White World.
After she left, the withered bark in the center of the large tree slowly cracked open, revealing something like a human face, looking toward the direction the maiden left.
‘I smell the supreme aura… Could there be another Blessed One who has come to this forgotten corner?’
‘Sorry, Your Majesty the Monarch, Eps is too weak to fight anymore and can only coexist with these Twisted abominations to barely survive.’
In the gap of its cracked mouth, one could vaguely see that the center of the trunk had become a hollow cavity, piled with various corpses and bones inside. Those ferocious skulls told of the strength and terror from back then.
……
After moving away from the Colored Bubble node from not long ago, Xilutiya continued forward, traversing the Gray White World until she reached another Colored Bubble near the mountain peak.
People have been here before!
The moment Xilutiya stepped in, she noticed it was different from the previous spots. There were broken weapon handles on the ground, shattered leather armor, and traces of a campfire.
Then her gaze searched forward again. The light in her eyes flowed, allowing her to see the cave hidden behind the thick shrubs. Something like a monster seemed to lurk there, and a faint stench drifted in the air.
Covering her hair over her chest, she took a few breaths to restore stamina. Then, with vigilant eyes scanning the surroundings, she searched for any possible lurking monsters.
【Natural Perception Lv.2】 plus 【Discernment Eyes Lv.3】—under the enhancement of these two Fate effects excelling in perception and observation—she had insight far surpassing that of the First Order. If there’s more to say, it’s that Brilliant Moon is the only Nature among all Natures focused on pure clarity, and it’s the nemesis of many illusions.
Even though she hadn’t cultivated the Brilliant Moon Nature, her affinity for Brilliant Moon still retained a little of its traits.
There were many ruins and debris around, but no monsters. So the only possibility was that cave behind the shrubs. Xilutiya thought to herself.
As a cultivator of the Emerald Honey Nature, she wasn’t as good at combat as Blood Law. If possible, she preferred to avoid solving problems with fighting.
Retreating now seemed better, but… the path to the mountain peak was right next to that cave. If she detoured, the other areas were steep cliffs she couldn’t climb, not to mention it would cost more power and stamina traversing the Gray White World.
It seemed the predecessors who came here before had encountered the same problem as her. She thought darkly while looking at the campfire ruins by her feet.
Continue detouring, or take a gamble.
Detouring would consume extra stamina and power, and it wasn’t guaranteed to find a path up the mountain. Not detouring meant facing unknown dangers.
What a tough choice. She twirled her hair with her fingers while thinking.
But at this point, there was no need to think anymore, because the monster in that cave seemed to have smelled the scent of a living person and walked out from inside.
It was hard to imagine that such a small cave could spill out something like liquid overflowing—a black weird cat taller than Xilutiya and bigger than a cow. Its whole body of black fur was like pitch black night, making its form somewhat blurry, and the only striking thing was that pair of ferocious lemon-yellow eyes.
“Hiss—”
The exposed fangs were sharp and long. One could say it was worthy of being a beast—the inherited power in its bloodline gave them all powerful claws, fangs, and horns.
【Pitch Dark Weird Cat】（Twisted）: Form blurry, with weird black fur like liquid, extremely ferocious.
Glancing at the tall Weird Black Cat in the distance, then at the Twisted short sword in her hand, Xilutiya felt it was better not to fight. She should prepare to escape first.
She leaped back into the Gray White World, preparing to head to other safe Colored Bubbles.
But she soon realized her plan was wrong. This black cat also drilled into the Gray White World. Pitch-black ink color flowed at the edges of its body, like ink dissolving, granting it the ability to move in the Gray White World.
With no other choice, Xilutiya accelerated again. After dodging the black cat’s pounce, she rushed back into that Colored Bubble from earlier.
Landing on the grassland, Xilutiya kicked off with her feet. The sword blade in her hand spun, carving a sharp sword mark, slashing the black fur front paw that pounced down.
The expected massive force didn’t come. It was like striking an inflated balloon—after breaking through the tough surface skin, inside was nothing but empty air.
The black cat was lightly injured, black liquid and smoke overflowing from its front paw, continuously steaming.
Only this much? Xilutiya thought to herself, but then felt something was off. If it was this simple to defeat, why were there so many debris and broken blades on the ground?
The injured black cat arched its back. Its blurry fur suddenly bristled like a hedgehog, each strand sharp. It let out a hissing roar again, then charged fiercely at Xilutiya.
The maiden spun in place, the sword blade in her hand whipping into a shining silver arc, like a new moon suddenly appearing. The sharp sword blade split open from the black cat’s brow.
Like instantly tearing through the skin, the black cat’s body split in the middle, but it didn’t die. The split pair of eyes still stared at Xilutiya, then it lunged forward. The body and organs behind its head tumbled out like roiling black mist, engulfing Xilutiya.
Oh no, this was its real attack method.
The completely unreasonable attack method caught Xilutiya off guard, with no time to react. Her whole body was submerged in the black thick fog.
All light and sound vanished. She couldn’t touch anything around her, only endless void. Invisible twisting came from her body surface. At first, it was the fine blood vessels, which became disordered under the effect of the Twisted Nature Power. The blood flowed backward, the blood vessels wriggling like worms.
Then the internal organs, like invisible hands tearing and pulling at the organs inside her body. Various organs began to shift out of place. This sensation made Xilutiya feel nauseous and queasy.
Finally, even the invisible Fate Plate deep in her soul appeared with black Twisted thick fog. It seeped in from all directions, gradually spreading, staining the 【Breathing Technique Lv.3】【Flower Blooming Technique Lv.1】 below black.
Like a virus, the originally gorgeous and clear cards became turbid, black spots appearing on them, bit by bit spreading and corroding, gnawing at these cards.
【Breathing Technique Lv.3】, as a level three card, could still resist somewhat, while the mere level one 【Flower Blooming Technique】 quickly shattered under the Twisted corrosion, turning into debris and scattering. The result was that Xilutiya lost the newly learned 【Flower Blooming Technique】 and could no longer use its abilities.
Not only that, this black Twisted thick fog, by destroying the 【Flower Blooming Technique】, also opened the path to the central Fate Card, beginning to erode and spread toward that 【Girl Gardener Apprentice】.
If even the Fate Card shattered, it would mean the end of Xilutiya’s life.
