Chapter 196: Chapter 195: Porcelain Doll (13)_1
As a forbidden island, the guards only patrolled around the perimeter and never ventured deep inside.
Having used dream manipulation to bypass their surveillance, Fu Qian soon felt changes in his body.
The closer he got to the islet in the swamp, the more intense the sensation of twisting and mutation became.
Even the itching of his skin reappeared, forcing Fu Qian to summon all his concentration, cautiously restraining the flesh buds writhing on his skin.
It took quite some time, but Fu Qian finally set foot on the islet.
The islet wasn’t large, and Fu Qian quickly arrived at the white tree, examining the existence known as the Sacred Tree.
From this distance, the white tree was even more lustrous and dazzling.
Its bark was not like that of other trees, rough with textures, but was smooth and fine, akin to human skin.
And in the distance, not easily noticeable, the tree was actually made of two branches entwined with each other.
It was just that the middle had almost no gap, so it wasn’t apparent.
The next moment, Fu Qian suddenly felt bewildered.
Two images appeared in his mind at the same time.
One was, theoretically, the view from his own eyes, which was this tree.
At the same time, another image was of him looking at this tree, as if observing himself from another perspective.
The instant he realized this, Fu Qian felt something was wrong—his spirit seemed to be guided into dividing into two parts.
He instantly thought of those Porcelain Dolls that ran out from his body.
Fu Qian immediately stepped back twice, also shifting his gaze away from the Sacred Tree.
The sense of division finally began to weaken slightly.
However, Fu Qian vaguely felt that if he continued to stay here, a mental split was inevitable.
Even so, he didn’t rush to leave, instead turning to observe his surroundings.
The island was small, and after a few glances, Fu Qian spotted something special not far away.
It was a section of dark wall, situated at the center of the islet.
Fu Qian followed the direction and approached it, observing it closely and discovering the wall was entirely made out of pure black stones, and there was more than just one section.
Most of it, however, was buried under the soil and debris due to the passage of time, which made it inconspicuous from a distance.
What was also strange was that the wall itself was incredibly irregular, twisted, and uneven, exuding a sense of chaos at a glance.
A child’s block structures would be better constructed.
Looking at the surface of the black stones, they were clearly finely processed, using them to build such a wall was baffling.
It was apparent that these walls were all connected, from the outside spiraling towards the center.
In the most central location, there was a hole slanting downwards, pitch-black and indecipherable.
Fu Qian remembered the girl mentioning that the islet devoured people.
Darkness was no obstacle for his vision, so he didn’t hesitate to proceed down through the hole.
The interior of the hole was also constructed from the same black stones and had the same irregular style as above.
Most discomforting though were even the spacing between the steps beneath his feet—they varied.
Walking on them, the sensation of varying distance was quite unpleasant.
And as he entered the passageway, Fu Qian immediately felt a surge in the chaotic sensation within his body, barely keeping control.
It seemed this was the source of the chaotic power of the entire area.
Fu Qian pondered while continuing downwards without pause.
This black passageway wasn’t straight, but spiraled and meandered downwards.
Fu Qian initially thought it was some sort of underground altar, but the deeper he went, the more he felt he might have been wrong.
Apart from the uniform black stones, the passageway was so rudimentary it was exaggerated, without any decoration on either side.
It was also extremely deep, with no end in sight.
If this place was truly an altar, not to mention anything else, if they had a Priest with poor stamina, they probably would’ve collapsed on the spot after a round trip.
It did seem a bit like a mine shaft of sorts, as if something was being dug.
After a long while, Fu Qian stepped off the last stone step and found himself in a slightly more spacious area.
The black stone slabs were no longer in sight; moving forward led to a pure stone cavern, with cracks oozing crimson as if bleeding.
This scene basically confirmed Fu Qian’s guess.
The original intent of this underground structure seemed to indeed involve digging for something.
At this location, visibility was extremely low; even with Fu Qian’s sight, it still felt unusually dim.
He carefully surveyed his surroundings.
This place seemed to be a central point underground, with no less than ten passages extending in all directions, each dug out without any discernible difference at a glance.
The next moment, Fu Qian’s brow furrowed.
In front of one of the passages, he seemed to have spotted a figure with its back to him.
From this angle, the lower half of the body was bulky and intricate, seemingly wearing an old-fashioned court gown.
Standing, still alive?
Considering the dim lighting and his deliberate restraint of perception, Fu Qian took two steps forward to check the status of this individual.
Seemingly sensing Fu Qian, the figure suddenly reacted.
The next moment, the seemingly bulky neck stretched out like that of a snake, almost reaching twice the height of the body, and instantly brought a huge face to within twenty centimeters of Fu Qian.
An oval-shaped head, black and yellow fine scales, swollen human facial features, and a pair of pupil-less eyes staring dead ahead.
After being forced to take a close look, Fu Qian finally nodded lightly.
The likelihood of it being non-venomous should be somewhat higher.
The next moment, as if it finally acknowledged Fu Qian’s presence, the Snake Person came to life.
Its mouth silently opened wide, revealing rows of sharp fangs, and it bit towards Fu Qian’s face.
Almost at the same time, Fu Qian emotionlessly launched an Air Bullet.
Not being prone to rash action didn’t mean not taking action at all.
Although unsure about what mutated effect the Air Bullet might have, Fu Qian didn’t want to directly touch an unknown entity with his fists.
The Snake Person’s massive head took a solid hit, and along with its neck, it whirled away like a tennis ball on a string.
The flying head slammed into the stone wall next to it, scattering debris.
Only then did the Snake Person’s body start to turn around.
The power is indeed impressive!
Fu Qian lowered his head, inspecting his right hand.
Upgraded and twisted by strange powers, the Air Bullet exhibited brutal force.
Of course, this came at a price. At that moment, Fu Qian’s right index finger was limply dangling, the bone of its tip having been shot away like a bullet.
The blood spilled wasn’t solely from the Snake Person.
Under normal, non-combat conditions, such a wound would heal in the time it took to yawn.
However, at that moment, as he was already barely maintaining his form, this action finally proved too much to sustain.
Fu Qian watched as his entire index finger twisted into a black and red tentacle.
It’s indeed sinister!
Fu Qian felt a sense of dismay and fired another shot at the head that was biting towards him again.