Life itself should be the most miraculous and beautiful creation of nature.
Even the most seemingly hideous forms of life still possess a certain “rationality” and unique beauty in some aspects.
But… the colossal thing before them, this monstrosity—its very existence seemed like a desecration of the word “life.”
One could not use terms like “organism” or “corpse” to describe it.
As they had seen at first glance, it… was a Meat Mountain.
It looked like a crude stitching of biomass and corpses, a gore-drenched patchwork monster created from life that had been dismantled and then haphazardly piled together.
Its massive form connected the ground to the ceiling.
The crimson fluid secreting from beneath it was not simple juice, but a thick, viscous plasma that seemed capable of draining one’s sanity.
Its “skin” did not cover it; rather, it was an exposure.
Beneath pale layers of fat, stretched tight like drumheads, dark purple veins pulsed continuously.
In some places, the fat had ulcerated, revealing the bright red, slightly twitching muscle bundles beneath.
Most disgusting were its organs.
They were not housed inside the body but hung and were embedded into the surface like fruit.
A massive, mucus-covered heart pulsed openly near the “mid-slope” of its body.
Every contraction squeezed out dark red plasma that flowed down through layers of fleshy folds…
Several mouths were scattered across its torso.
Some were grinned open on its chest, filled with interlocking fangs; others opened on its flanks, their lips thick and slimy, opening and closing unconsciously as they exhaled fetid, hot air.
There was even one on its “back,” twitching slightly.
And upon its body… there was more than one reproductive opening.
They were like festering flowers or overripe fruit, blooming and drooping at various corners of the Meat Mountain, dripping with an unknown, viscous liquid.
In an instant, one of the reproductive openings spat out a long, pitch-black object.
It fell into the shallow water, twitching repeatedly like a dying man.
During this process, it gradually developed limbs, a head, and a physical form.
Finally, it stood up in a brand-new body—the very image of the monstrosity the little boy had seen before.
Its arms… or rather, those limb-like appendages, jutted out randomly from the mound of flesh.
Some were as thick as bridge piers, some were slender and twisted, and some were simply forest-white bone spikes piercing through the flesh toward the sky.
But the most noteworthy sight was near a reproductive opening at the base, where several humanoid figures dressed in Black Religious Robes were standing.
They surrounded the opening, seemingly waiting for something to be born.
Then… they heard it.
Qiu Qiqian and Li Meng heard it too.
It was the cry of an infant.
The massive Meat Mountain trembled slightly, and then several infant-shaped lumps of flesh flowed out from the reproductive opening at its base.
The “people” in religious robes immediately crowded around.
One of them held a crying, fleshy infant high in the air, even though it had no eyes, ears, or nose.
The others reached out with hands that seemed to be composed of black mist, easily tearing open the chests of the “stillborns” to retrieve… Wart Crystals.
At that moment, they noticed there were other presences in the space.
They turned their heads and locked eyes with Qiu Qiqian and Li Meng… if they even had eyes.
Seeing the black-hole-like faces beneath their hoods, the two women immediately thought of the monstrosity Li Meng had already defeated: Number 1263, the Cardinal.
‘What is the connection between these guys and the Cardinal?’
Before Qiu Qiqian could think further, she was forcibly yanked into the air by the binding effect she shared with Li Meng.
The second she saw those robed figures, Li Meng’s silhouette blurred, rushing toward them at a speed the naked eye could not track.
The robed figures seemed to know they were no match for Li Meng.
The moment they made eye contact, they vanished instantly.
Only the one holding the infant remained a second longer, touching the Meat Mountain beside it before leaving, as if… awakening it.
Because it took that one extra action, it was nearly kicked to death by Li Meng’s arrival.
Bang!
Whirr—
Just as Li Meng’s foot slammed into the shallow water, sending up a massive splash, the entire Inner World began to tremble slightly.
This wasn’t just because of her kick; it was more… because of the massive Meat Mountain beside them.
“Muuu… muuu…”
The thick lips of the Meat Mountain opened and closed slightly, emitting a low, muffled sound like a wild bull.
It was then that the white gazes in the sky staring at Qiu Qiqian and Li Meng vanished.
A second later, Li Meng felt something suddenly climb up her feet from the shallow water, trying to drag her into a deeper place.
“Hey! Hold on tight!”
Qiu Qiqian shouted.
She first summoned a large number of Black Arms to contend with the hands emerging from the shallow water.
Then, leveraging the trait that her Nether Body could directly touch a Spiritual State, she grabbed Li Meng’s hands and pulled her out, flying as high as possible.
Perhaps she felt that flying while holding hands was a bit… taxing on the arms?
So, after putting some distance between them, Qiu Qiqian switched to a bridal carry, one hand supporting Li Meng’s back and the other supporting her…
‘Wait, so soft… No, no! Now isn’t the time for that!’
This was the first time in Li Meng’s life that she had been held this way.
And… from this angle, she could see Qiu Qiqian’s exquisite, slightly flushed profile.
Though Qiu Qiqian’s hands were cold due to her nature as a monstrosity, Li Meng didn’t dislike it.
Instead, on some level… some internal level, she felt strangely warm.
However, the current environment was hardly suitable for romance.
Some of the monstrosities also switched to their Spiritual State and began flashing back and forth in mid-air to intercept them.
Among them were several Chimei-class monstrosities.
Of course, those few monstrosities weren’t much of a problem.
The main issue was that the colossal Meat Mountain had begun to extend its massive, tree-like limbs to swipe at them.
The bone spikes protruding from its body were also fired one after another, like giant siege crossbows.
“I say… you’re so strong, so why are you still a ground-bound chicken?”
Qiu Qiqian couldn’t help but complain as she dodged the Meat Mountain’s attacks while holding Li Meng.
Li Meng raised her hand.
Like a master mage from an anime, she needed no incantation to instantly release a pure white Dark Breath Flow.
Like a light cannon, it annihilated every monstrosity trying to approach them and cleared away the massive bone spikes falling from the sky.
But neither of them noticed that while the low-level monstrosities were distracting them, the massive Meat Mountain was releasing a certain gas into the water below.
The gas seemed to be highly infectious.
Wherever it passed, the ground was rapidly covered by a blood-red Mycelium Carpet.
In just a few dozen seconds, as far as Qiu Qiqian and Li Meng could see, everything was covered in this blood-red carpet.
Upon the Mycelium Carpet, countless towering tentacles sprouted like mushrooms after rain, standing tall within their field of vision.
And those children, pulled by the veins connected to them, walked step by step toward the Meat Mountain.
The Meat Mountain opened one of its massive mouths, revealing a bottomless darkness within.