Chapter 283: Chapter 65 Feng Mengmeng’s Invitation
A few hours can pass quickly or slowly, depending on one’s perspective, but the time spent cooped up in the vehicle definitely dragged on.
After about an hour, Feng Mengmeng had produced nearly a thousand bombs.
"That should be enough," Feng Mengmeng said confidently. "We injured it with just two hundred bombs last time. Now, with a thousand, plus the three hundred in our inventory, we can definitely blow it to bits."
Chen Jiuge actually felt it was a bit risky. To transform back from my second state, I’ll definitely need to use the giant crab’s attack to create some distance. I have to leave some room for defense. Otherwise, if the bombs are ready but the vehicle gets smashed, we’ll be truly screwed.
"Okay, I’ll listen to you."
"Take a deep breath. Are you ready?" Chen Jiuge asked, having composed himself.
"Ready," came Feng Mengmeng’s muffled voice from within her armor.
Chen Jiuge looked at her and exclaimed, "Wow, what are you doing? Trying to be a tin can man?"
Huge black armor completely enveloped her, with layers of Spirit Light shimmering around it. How many layers of Defense Magic has she applied?
"Safety first," Feng Mengmeng said, her small, pitch-black eyes peeking out.
"Heh," Chen Jiuge was speechless.
The war chariot’s transformation was actually quite fast. As Chen Jiuge initiated the change, the giant crab outside paused for a moment, then delivered a heavy blow that dented the vehicle’s body.
"Die!"
The moment the giant crab lunged, a bright light burst forth from the massive cannon atop the heavy truck.
A great man once said that caliber determines everything.
Chen Jiuge hadn’t fully understood this statement before, but now he grasped a good deal of it, even if his understanding was a bit skewed.
"Indeed, yield is king!" Chen Jiuge exclaimed with a look of profound realization.
"HISS... Is it cooked?" Feng Mengmeng asked excitedly, removing her defensive layers and inspecting her handiwork.
"I think it’s cooked."
The giant crab in the distance had turned from greenish-blue to red, probably fully steamed by the heat of the explosion!
"Little Ha, go!" Feng Mengmeng tossed Erha, who was in her arms, out the window.
Erha, true to its nature, was unfazed by the giant crab. It ran back, dragging a crab leg even bigger than its own body.
The crab leg was too big to easily bring into the vehicle.
Chen Jiuge and Feng Mengmeng exchanged a look and opened their vehicle doors simultaneously.
They really hadn’t tried freshly steamed giant crab before; it would be a shame to miss out!
SLURP, SLURP.
"It’s so delicious!" Chen Jiuge lifted his head from a massive pincer and exclaimed in amazement.
"So chewy! Truly worthy of being a Heavenly Immortal Spiritual Beast that cultivated its physique. I’ve decided! From now on, I’m only eating the meat of Fierce Beasts from the Nether Sea," Feng Mengmeng declared grandly.
"Excuse me, Fellow Daoists, could you let me have a taste too?"
The voice belonged to a huge pig—no, it had to be a Dang Kang.
The owner of the Dang Kang Chariot was a gentle-looking plump man. He had a beaming smile, resembling a Maitreya Buddha, and looked much like a Jin Yuanbao, only a size larger.
"Fellow Daoists, may I also have a taste? I can offer compensation," the plump man said, practically drooling.
"No need for compensation. We can’t finish it all anyway. Help yourself," Chen Jiuge didn’t refuse. As his Senior Brother often said, competitions in the Heavenly Realm were mostly for amusement, and making more friends was always good.
"My name is Dang Kangdemin. How may I address you two?" Dang Kangdemin asked with a smile, picking up a crab leg.
"Dang Kang?"
"Demin?"
"That’s right."
As they ate and chatted, even Chen Jiuge, the least knowledgeable of the three, came to understand the origin of this strange name.
This plump man was from the Dang Kang clan, and a pureblood of the Direct Lineage at that, which explained his peculiar name. It seemed that naming was as much of a headache for Spiritual Beasts in the cultivation world as it was for ordinary people in the mundane world. Indeed, the Extraordinary World was just an enlarged version of the mundane one.
After finishing off two crab legs and a big bowl of crab roe, Chen Jiuge felt stuffed, as was Feng Mengmeng.
"Fellow Daoists, are you full?" Dang Kangdemin asked cheerfully.
"Yes, Fellow Daoist, the rest is yours. It’d be a waste not to eat it," Chen Jiuge replied lazily, waving his hand.
A giant Dang Kang appeared on the surface of the sea and swallowed the remaining crab carcass in one gulp.
Having reverted to human form, Dang Kangdemin licked his lips, relishing the taste. "Truly, nothing beats the taste of Fierce Beasts from the Nether Sea."
Brother Demin, you’re really being too frugal. There should still be plenty of bomb fragments within the remains of that giant crab. Can he even eat those? Chen Jiuge wondered.
"No worries, no worries. I seldom come out, and it’s not often I get the chance to have fun. Naturally, I have to eat a bit more," Dang Kangdemin said with a smile.
Looking at the living, breathing Dang Kang before him, Chen Jiuge was very curious about the Dang Kang clan; they were Divine Beasts that rarely appeared in the world.
"Brother Demin, does your clan rarely venture out?" Chen Jiuge initiated.
Dang Kangdemin pondered for a moment. "Not exactly rarely. It’s mainly those of us from the Direct Lineage who seldom go out. It’s said that those Major Sects enjoy capturing pureblood Dang Kangs like us to take back and use as farm managers, helping them cultivate their lands. Although we don’t mind farming, we strongly object to such coercive methods."
"Oh, right, I should be going. If I don’t leave now, I won’t make it to the finish line. Here are my Communication Talismans. You can contact me when you come to Shouyang Mountain," Dang Kangdemin said, patting his rear and cheerfully leaving behind two Communication Talismans.
Feng Mengmeng nonchalantly accepted them.
Once back in the carriage, Chen Jiuge asked curiously, "That’s a Dang Kang we’re talking about. Aren’t you curious?"
Feng Mengmeng replied casually, "Who doesn’t know about the Dang Kang? But you have to be able to get into Shouyang Mountain first. That’s the ancestral land of the Dang Kang clan. Never mind humans, even beasts seldom gain entry."
"Oh, right. Shouyang Mountain is near our Jiuyou Domain. If you’re interested, I can show you the way."
"Uhh, if that’s the case, then never mind. Let’s just continue on our way," Chen Jiuge inferred from Feng Mengmeng’s words that Shouyang Mountain was probably out of the question for him.
The war chariot moved slowly over the sea surface. Perhaps because of the fierce battle earlier, the two of them didn’t encounter any Fierce Beasts along the way.
"We’re probably not going to make it to the finish line," Feng Mengmeng said, somewhat disheartened.
"What happened?" Chen Jiuge asked curiously, since she had sounded so confident earlier.
"Sigh, did you see the remains of the Fierce Beasts on the sea surface just now? They’re all Heavenly Immortal Fierce Beasts. We can’t get through them, and your super cannon will probably be completely wrecked if you fire it one more time."
"It does seem to be the case," Chen Jiuge said, looking at the twisted outline of the cannon turret on the display screen.
"By the way, are you interested in joining our Jiuyou Sect’s marble tournament?" Feng Mengmeng suddenly brought up the grand event her sect was about to host.
"Marbles? A tournament?"
Chen Jiuge was shocked. The Heavenly Realm isn’t even sparing marbles? Isn’t this just utterly unscrupulous, complete plagiarism!
"Yeah, apparently it was created by several old ancestors who were influenced by a ’television’ from a lesser world. It’s said to have been around for quite a while now," Feng Mengmeng recalled.
"Tell me first, what’s this marble tournament like?" Chen Jiuge leaned back slightly.
Over the next hour, Chen Jiuge came to fully understand this so-called marble tournament.
The marble tournament wasn’t about simply firing marbles imbued with some Divine Skills or Magic and shooting at each other. Instead, participants transformed themselves into marbles for a kind of bumper-car free-for-all. The entry requirement was True Immortal, and the upper limit was also True Immortal.
After turning into a marble, before any Divine Skills or Magic could be released, the user must first endure their effects. Only then could they attack an opponent. In other words, the more resilient you were, the higher your chances of winning. Victory wasn’t guaranteed, however, because there were various items on the competition field, each with unique, wondrous effects.
"Why does this sound so familiar? A marble version of a battle royale game?" Chen Jiuge suddenly exclaimed in realization.
"So, what do you think? Interesting, right?" Feng Mengmeng said excitedly.
"It’s interesting, sure, but it doesn’t seem right for an outsider like me to participate," Chen Jiuge demurred. He had already been in many bizarre competitions recently. Even if it was for relaxation, it was time for a change of pace.
"I think you can mention it to your sect’s Eldest Senior Brother. My Master has long grown tired of only our own sect playing the marble tournament. If your Eldest Senior Brother can convince your Sect Master, we could definitely have a friendly match!" Feng Mengmeng was thrilled by her own ingenious idea.
"How about this: once we get out of here, you can talk to my Eldest Senior Brother about it?"
"Sure, that’s settled then."
* * *
An hour after finishing their discussion about the marble tournament, Chen Jiuge and Feng Mengmeng finally ran into trouble: two Heavenly Immortal Level Water Snakes. Their formidable auras suggested they were even stronger than the giant crab from before.
"It seems our journey ends here," Chen Jiuge said with some regret. I haven’t even caught a glimpse of the finish line, he thought.
"This is infuriating! Next competition, I’ll definitely bring several super cannons and blast them all to pieces!" Feng Mengmeng fumed.
BOOM!
A huge explosion successfully dealt with one Fierce Beast. Watching the other Water Snake charging furiously towards them, Chen Jiuge said to Feng Mengmeng, "Let me show you the final form of this war chariot!"
CLANK, CLANK!
A colossal automaton resembling Optimus Prime stood tall on the sea surface. Chen Jiuge, controlling the automaton, declared excitedly, "You know, I’ve always believed that if a person ready to die for a cause holds a world-destroying bomb, they are invincible."
"Now, taste my specially designed ’Heroic Self-Destruction’!"
The automaton advanced slowly, grappling the rampaging Water Snake in a death hug. As its armor shattered, the bomb’s core was exposed.
"How many Runes did you integrate into this? Aren’t you afraid it would explode while you were driving it around out there?" Feng Mengmeng asked, a little horrified.
"That’s why I drove very slowly."
FWOOSH!
Black scales and dark metallic fragments flew into the air. The two Cultivators, now enveloped in golden light, showed satisfied expressions. Clearly, the massive explosion had been quite spectacular.
The golden light then whisked the two of them away from the competition grounds.