103: meat space
“That ignorant fool, daring to act presumptuously in my domain, is seeking death!”
Amidst the cheers of countless South Korean citizens, a furious roar, capable of splitting clouds and cracking stones, erupted from beneath the ground, shaking up scattered rubble and debris on the surface.
Even the streets, frozen by Lu Yu’s ice spikes, developed tiny cracks and emitted faint creaking sounds.
“Lord Saint King, that’s Lord Saint King’s voice!”
As the voice spread, the people of South Korea steadied themselves, weeping with joy.
Their revered Saint King had finally arrived.
“The Saint King is mighty, unparalleled in the world!”
More South Koreans cheered, dancing with excitement, a fervent and confident energy seemingly igniting them.
With the Saint King here, all crises would be resolved.
A mere Lu Yu, a Golden Eagle, how could he be a match for Lord Saint King!
Lu Yu ignored their cheers; his attention was completely drawn to the pale, fleshy substance emerging from underground.
The flesh, like freely flowing fat, surged upwards from tiny cracks in the earth and faint pores in the asphalt streets, merging together on the surface.
It formed a mass of pale, living goo, leaving behind a sticky liquid as it crawled across the ground.
At first glance, it didn’t resemble any creature from Blue Star.
Lu Yu felt a sense of revulsion.
He had specifically learned about this ‘Saint King’ that South Korea spoke of; it was actually a mutated ‘Tai Sui’ (flesh fungus), which enhanced its strength by devouring flesh and other energy-rich substances.
It could be considered an anomaly, growing in power very quickly, far surpassing other Ferocious Beasts.
However, the Tai Sui’s strength wasn’t particularly high; among creatures of the same rank, its combat power was in the lower-middle range.
Generally, Tai Sui were very low-key. Before gaining sentience, they would instinctively find an energy-rich place, eat, sleep, and repeat.
After breaking through a realm, they would find an even more energy-dense location, repeating the cycle.
This situation only changed after breaking through to Tier C and developing sentience.
Looking at this Tier B Tai Sui, it seemed little had changed. It maintained its obese body, and the feeling it gave him was that its combat power was truly not high.
As Lu Yu stared at it, the Tai Sui proudly raised its head, ignoring Lu Yu, and instead responded to the cheers of the South Korean populace.
It completely disregarded Lu Yu.
It wasn’t until Lu Yu’s sharp Golden Eagle eyes erupted with golden killing intent that the Tai Sui felt a chill run through its body, an illusion of being plunged into the Arctic abyss.
Only then did its attention truly focus on Lu Yu.
“Are you that Golden Eagle? The one who killed my top general?”
From its plump body, two eyes bulged out, staring intently at Lu Yu, its words filled with rage and killing intent.
A day prior, news of Lu Yu had already been sent to him by South Korea, so he had some understanding of Lu Yu.
A Ferocious Beast with a slightly ordinary bloodline, who had somehow broken through to Tier B, and was incredibly arrogant!
Although the Tai Sui was not adept at combat, its own bloodline was nobler than the Golden Eagle Bloodline, so dealing with a Golden Eagle should be an easy task.
However, observing Lu Yu up close, the Tai Sui realized he was wrong.
And he was greatly mistaken!
Not only South Korea, but other countries might have been deceived by Lu Yu.
Because upon closer inspection, the energy aura emanating from Lu Yu was terrifyingly strong, comparable to the combined strength of several Tier B Ferocious Beasts!
In addition, he also discovered that the energy contained within Lu Yu’s wings was dozens of times more powerful than the energy stored elsewhere in his body.
It had already surpassed the Tier B level, absolutely comparable to the legendary Tier A, otherwise it would be impossible to explain.
But Lu Yu appeared to be merely a bird. It was one thing for him to break through to Tier B first, but why were his wings so much stronger?
One must know that discerning the energy aura contained within objects and living beings was an important way for the Tai Sui to sense whether an enemy was dangerous.
With his natural sensitivity to energy, it was also a form of seeking good fortune and avoiding disaster.
Trying to feign weakness or borrow power to intimidate him was simply impossible.
Now, with Lu Yu right in front of him, that terrifying energy aura was clearly perceived by him; he simply could not contend with it.
He even had a feeling that even if several Tier B Ferocious Beasts attacked him together, it would be futile!
Immediately, a feeling of powerlessness and despair made him instinctively retreat a few steps, his heart already filled with fear and thoughts of surrender.
Fighting Lu Yu, he wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.
Thus, the Tai Sui, knowing he was no match, hesitated for a moment before gradually retracting his aura, and his massive body began to shrink back underground.
This somewhat strange action by the Tai Sui immediately caught the attention of many South Korean citizens.
They didn’t understand the Tai Sui’s true intentions, only thinking that his retraction of aura and body was merely to gather strength for a fatal blow against Lu Yu.
“Lord Saint King is mighty, kill him, kill him!” the citizens there shouted hoarsely.
But Lu Yu was not misled by their voices; the Tai Sui’s aura was surging underground, showing no fighting intent whatsoever, clearly intending to flee!
Although Lu Yu didn’t know why it chose to retreat after just one glance at him.
Yet, this Tai Sui was already on Lu Yu’s hunting list; how could he let it go so easily?
Hand of Earth!
Lu Yu’s claw made a grasping motion towards the earth, and immediately, mud and dust surged upwards, forming another giant cage, trapping the retreating Tai Sui within it.
The Tai Sui hadn’t expected Lu Yu to act so swiftly and decisively, imprisoning him in an instant.
Even when he tried to split his flesh to escape the cage, he suddenly found that the cage carried the essence of the earth, with an inexplicable pull and suppression, making it absolutely impossible to escape even by splitting his body.
Seeing that escape had become an unreachable dream, the Tai Sui’s heart grew even more panicked.
Having cultivated to his current level, he did not wish to die.
“Is Lord Saint King preparing to counterattack? Finally, we can witness the grandeur of a Tier B Ferocious Beast battle and see Lord Saint King’s unparalleled strength.”
Various discussions came from all directions, with some even beginning to deliberate on how to divide Lu Yu’s corpse.
“Wait!”
Just as Lu Yu, unable to stand South Korea’s blind arrogance, was about to quickly eliminate the Tai Sui, the Tai Sui clearly sensed the fleeting killing intent in his eyes and immediately called out to him.
“I think there’s some misunderstanding between us. If we resolve these misunderstandings, we can totally be friends, not enemies. Besides, there are many living beings here, and fighting and killing is not good.”
He chose to yield directly, and even found a way to save face for himself.
Knowing it was impossible, he had no intention of doing such a foolish thing.