211: The Breath of the Horse King

Buzz—

Hachishaku, who had fallen into a deep slumber due to the exhaustion of her power, instantly revived the moment those golden vertical pupils snapped open!

A milky-white radiance erupted violently from within Lin Luo's body!

Chiss—!

At almost the same moment, the Strangling Vines that were tightly coiled around Lin Luo and constricting frantically suddenly ignited with milky-white flames!

The flames burned silently, without heat, but the incredibly tough vines turned into flying ash within the white flames, like snow meeting a scorching sun!

The Strangling Vines sensed this fatal threat and frantically secreted a large amount of viscous liquid with extreme resistance and restorative properties, attempting to isolate the white flames. However, as soon as that liquid touched the white flames, it was also instantly evaporated, proving completely useless!

Realizing that these flames were impossible to resist!

Crack!

A slight but decisive sound of snapping came from underground. It directly severed all the vines touched by the white flames, and the remaining vines retracted like lightning into their deep underground root systems.

On the ground, only segments of vine remains turning to ash in the white flames were left, along with Lin Luo, who suddenly felt light after breaking free from the restraint.

The white flames slowly receded, re-entering Lin Luo's body. He gasped for breath; the feeling of paralysis faded quickly, and his strength began to flow back slowly as Hachishaku revived.

The roaring in the sky stopped abruptly, and the "Million Rain" paused briefly. The thick rain clouds had not dispersed, clearly brewing the next round.

Lin Luo seized the gap, quickly leaving the shelter of the fern leaves and hurrying toward the edge of the area. The Five-Colored Halo was very conspicuous in the dim environment.

Entering a denser rainforest, a Leech dropped from a leaf and attached itself to the halo.

Lin Luo frowned slightly. With a thought, the halo vibrated lightly, shaking the disgusting Leech off and causing it to explode into a burst of foul blood in mid-air.

However, before he had gone far, splat, splat... several more leeches dropped from different directions, trying to latch on. He seemed to have inadvertently intruded into the nesting area of a Leech colony. These leeches lurked silently on the undersides of leaves, waiting for their chance.

"Troublesome." Lin Luo waved his hand impatiently, and several subtle strands of Five-Colored Qi Energy shot out, crushing the hidden leeches on the surrounding leaves along with the few that were falling. Foul blood splattered with a fishy stench.

He quickened his pace, wanting only to pass through this uncomfortable area quickly.

However, at the very moment he accelerated—

A massive white web that blotted out the sky, shimmering with a greasy luster, suddenly dropped from the dense canopy above without any warning!

Rustle, rustle... a scalp-numbing crawling sound came from overhead. Lin Luo looked up and saw a massive spider, its size comparable to half an ancient tree, hanging upside down among the higher branches!

Suddenly, a sky-blotting giant web fell from above! Rustling sounds came from above; Lin Luo looked up to see a Giant Spider as tall as half an ancient tree hanging upside down from a branch, its eight sharp black claws dug deep into the ground. It spat out viscous spider silk, coiling around Lin Luo and pulling him back.

Lin Luo's eyes turned cold as he shouted in his heart: "Hachishaku!"

A phantom appeared behind him, and white flames erupted violently again, instantly enveloping his entire body! The moment that extremely sticky spider silk touched the white flames, it quickly melted and snapped!

The moment he broke free from the restraint, Lin Luo turned from defense to offense! He pointed his fingers like a sword, aiming through the air at the Giant Spider!

Shoom!

A concentrated beam of milky-white light erupted from his fingertip, striking first and instantly hitting the Giant Spider's bloated abdomen!

The light beam quickly spread and intertwined, turning into a massive cocoon of light that enveloped and imprisoned the entire Giant Spider along with the web it had spat out!

The light cocoon contracted slightly. From within came the Giant Spider's frantic struggling and hissing, but the sounds quickly grew faint.

A life energy that wasn't massive but was quite pure allowed his parched Dantian and exhausted spirit to recover slightly.

Arriving at the edge of a deep pool, the surrounding sounds suddenly became eerily silent; even the insect chirps had vanished.

Along the way, by constantly hunting, refining, and consuming the fierce beasts he encountered, Lin Luo had recovered a lot of strength. Hachishaku's state had improved accordingly; she could now manifest solidly again, standing quietly by Lin Luo's side.

"In the pool," Hachishaku's ethereal voice rang out softly. She extended a pale, slender finger, pointing vaguely at the seemingly calm, dark-green water surface. "There is something that has been tracking us."

The slight vibration of her fingertip touching the air seemed to disturb the lurker at the bottom of the pool.

Splash—!

The water suddenly exploded! A thick, long black shadow burst out from the water!

It was an extremely hideous-looking creature. Its overall silhouette resembled a thick python, but its midsection abruptly sprouted a pair of short limbs covered in scales and ending in sharp claws, along with a slightly bloated torso. Its head had no eyes, only a massive sucker-like mouth filled with spiral-shaped sharp teeth that constantly opened and closed, dripping viscous saliva.

Seeing its appearance, Lin Luo instantly recalled the small leeches that had been constantly falling from the leaves and trying to attach to him when he first entered the rainforest.

"So that's how it is..." Lin Luo's eyes were icy. "Those little things were intentionally released by you to mark and track prey."

The giant Leech did not respond. Its sucker mouth aimed at Lin Luo, letting out a tooth-gritting hissing sound like air being sucked in. Its thick, long body tensed, ready to strike.

Lin Luo flicked his wrist, and a Five-Colored Light Whip cracked through the air, striking directly at the giant Leech's head, but most of the force was deflected by its slimy and tough skin.

At the same time, Hachishaku pointed her slender hand, and several concentrated beams of milky-white light shot out, accurately hitting the fragile gaps in the giant Leech's limb joints and sucker mouth. Upon contact, the light bands immediately burned with white smoke and scorched marks.

Hiss—!

The giant Leech cried out in pain, letting out a sharp hiss.

Its long, thick tail suddenly swung, kicking up pool water into a heavy curtain of water. Simultaneously, its pair of short limbs with sharp claws flashed through the water curtain, clawing at the two of them!

Hachishaku raised her hand and pressed down lightly. A pure light screen instantly unfolded, blocking all of the murky water.

Lin Luo pressed the five fingers of his right hand together, and a solid blade of light condensed out of thin air. He swung it in a vicious backhand diagonal slash!

Clang! A massive sound like metal clashing!

The giant Leech's claws were violently knocked away, and the scales upon them shattered.

Taking advantage of its momentary stagnation, the Divine Sense in Lin Luo's eyes surged! An invisible but sharp, cone-like mental shock pierced directly into the giant Leech's relatively simple and chaotic brain! The giant Leech's massive body suddenly stiffened.

Seizing this chance, a spark of milky-white flame, pure to the extreme, ignited silently at Hachishaku's fingertip. As the flame fell, the sounds of muffled burning and disintegration made it writhe frantically. Lin Luo's fist shot out like a Dragon, his heavy punch wrapped in five-colored light hitting like a pile driver, repeatedly striking the same spot on its head, which was reared up in pain!

Hachishaku drifted closer, her slender hand waving lightly. The light-flame surged again, quickly refining and condensing it into a ball of dark-red flesh.

Lin Luo opened his mouth and inhaled, making the aura around his body solidify a bit more.

As the aura within his body slowly settled, Lin Luo suddenly felt a sharp, sudden ringing in his ears!

This ringing did not originate from himself, but was accompanied by a low, grand resonance that seemed to come from the depths of the earth and the Peak of the heavens—a terrifying hum that could be clearly felt across the entire Rain Continent!

He snapped his head up.

High in the sky, the lead-gray cloud layer, so thick it seemed eternal and unchanging, was violently torn apart by an invisible but extremely sharp current of air!

That air current was like an invisible long blade, slicing into the sea of clouds with unstoppable force, plowing a long, straight crack through the boundless gloom that revealed long-lost skylight!

Clear sky! Although it was just a narrow strip, that pure blue and bright light was a sight almost never seen on this continent ruled by the "Million Rain"!

However, this "miracle" did not last.

Even thicker, darker clouds—almost pitch black—frantically gathered and surged from all directions, quickly filling and even doubly covering that crack. The sky not only returned to its gloom but became even more oppressive and violent!

Immediately after, the mutation began!

From within the leaden clouds, things completely beyond common sense began to fall—

It was no longer just the simple "Million Rain."

Miniature but real mountain ranges, carrying soil and rock, crashed down!

Giant steel balls several meters in diameter, shimmering with the cold glint of metal, fell as densely as cannonballs!

Various bizarre energy turbulences and twisted balls of lightning poured out from the cloud layer!

But that wasn't the most terrifying part.

The surrounding air pressure dropped instantly without any warning!

Hoo... Hoo...!!!

The terrifying vacuum suction and air pressure difference formed an unimaginable violent hurricane! Air frantically rushed from all directions toward the sudden low-pressure zone, turning into visible gray-white wind columns connecting heaven and earth, sweeping across the entire Eighth Continent with a posture of total destruction!

Deep within the Eighth Continent—the Hill of Slow Rain.

Dozens of mountain-like giant horses paced on the rolling hills, each footfall triggering a thunderous vibration of the earth. These behemoths moved with an easy grace, as if they were accustomed to the world-ending storm around them.

And at the highest point of the hills—the center of the Hill of the Horse Kings—a towering figure, seemingly held up by the earth itself, was quietly lying prone.

Horse King Heracles.

The moment one saw it, all surrounding colors, sounds, and even the sense of existence seemed to be stripped away, leaving only this unique, supreme life form in the world.

The patterns on its body carried a giraffe-like elegance and mystery, yet its head was filled with a majesty that one dared not look at directly. Two long whiskers, like the legendary dragon whiskers, hung down. Along the brow bone and both sides of the nose grew a sharp horn that seemed capable of piercing the firmament, outlining a domineering face like that of an ancient god.

At this moment, it reared up that sacred head.

Hoo... chiss... two pillars of white gas, condensed as if solid, slowly puffed out from its massive nostrils, and in the next moment—it inhaled sharply!

In just that one breath!

Across the entire Eighth Continent, the air within that vast, infinite space seemed to be seized by an invisible giant hand, turning into a surging torrent that frantically converged toward the Hill of the Horse Kings!

This was the very root cause of the continent's sudden drop in air pressure and the raging storms—Horse King Heracles was feeding; it was breathing!

For the giant horse herds living on this continent, "breathing" was the Origin of survival. They were the Peak existences of the 'Atmospheric Food Chain,' devouring and refining air to draw infinite energy from it.

And as the absolute king reigning over all giant horses, Horse King Heracles's "breathing" had long since surpassed biological instinct, becoming something akin to a cycle of natural phenomena.

With one long inhalation, it could take a staggering 300 million cubic kilometers of atmosphere, weighing approximately 360 billion tons, into its body.

The energy stored from a single inhalation was enough for it to fight at full strength for an entire month, or to gallop around the Gourmet Earth hundreds of times. Even in silence, it was enough to maintain its life activities for as long as a year.

When it exhaled, it only expelled "exhaust gas" equal to about one-tenth of the volume of the inhaled gas. This meant that with every breathing cycle, it permanently "plundered" a massive amount of air from the continent, which was the fundamental reason why the Eighth Continent was in a low-pressure environment year-round.

And those "exhaust gases" that were expelled—making up the vast majority—were full of complex toxins produced by its metabolism, violent energy that hadn't been fully converted, and air with drastically changed properties. They rose to an altitude of tens of thousands of meters with the aftermath of its breath.

These "excrements" gathered, reacted, and mutated at high altitudes, eventually forming the thick, eternal cloud layer that shrouded the continent, as well as the various types of "heavy rain" with terrifying forms and destructive power that fell from the clouds. The "Million Rain," the falling "mountains" and "steel balls," the energy turbulence... the source of all abnormal precipitation was tied to this.

The reason the Eighth Continent was called the 'Rain Continent'—its eternal harsh weather and deadly precipitation—was not a creation of natural climate, but a grand ecological phenomenon covering the entire continent triggered by every breathing cycle of Horse King Heracles!