When Nan Fusheng looked at the soul-screen, he noticed that as the Ghostbear devoured its prey, something strange began to happen—on its tiger-like limbs, red fur started to sprout.
The Ghost Tiger's body had always been pitch-black, so the Ghostbear, which had inherited its limbs, should also have had an entirely dark lower body. Yet now, those black furs were gradually being tinged with crimson, turning into a dark red hue.
Even more surprising to Nan Fusheng was that, as the Ghostbear continued feeding, faint sparks occasionally flickered from the massive mouth on its abdomen.
And then—the image shifted.
Within the cave's blood lake, as the Ghostbear ate, the blood suddenly began to boil once more. One after another, massive bubbles surfaced, bursting violently.
"Whoosh!"
Another blood column erupted into the air, and within it, the vague silhouette of a colossal creature could be seen. As the blood fell back into the lake, the figure fully revealed itself.
It was a creature entirely pitch-black, resembling an ant in form. Its enormous abdomen made up nearly half its body, yet even with such a massive bulk, it was able to stand upright on its legs.
Eight limbs extended from its body—not ant-like, but resembling the razor-sharp spears of a Man-Faced Demon Spider. The top pair of limbs, however, were shaped like the scythe blades of a mantis.
And across its back slithered several tentacle-like appendages.
But upon closer inspection, they weren't mere tentacles at all—each one bore the appearance of a draconic head.
Within the blood lake, the two terrifying soul beasts locked eyes. Even with the Ghostbear's towering ten-meter frame, the new monster stood at fifteen meters—overwhelmingly larger, utterly dwarfing it.
Then, one of the dragon-headed tentacles lashed out, ripping away a massive chunk of flesh from the fallen Earthfire Dragon. The appendage then devoured the flesh on the spot.
When it had finished, the tentacles retracted back into the beast's body. Without hesitation, the giant creature slowly sank back into the blood lake—as if its only reason for surfacing had been to feast on dragon flesh.
The Ghostbear, throughout all of this, didn't make a single move. From the creature's sudden emergence to its feeding frenzy and eventual disappearance beneath the surface, the Ghostbear simply stared silently.
Once the monster was fully submerged, the Ghostbear resumed eating the Earthfire Dragon's remains, as though nothing unusual had happened.
Nan Fusheng frowned. "And this soul beast… what exactly is it?"
Qian Gu Bubai smiled slyly. "It's you, Nan Fusheng."
"Of course I know that!" Nan Fusheng snapped. "I'm asking about its specifics."
Qian Gu Bubai wanted to tease further, but when he saw Nan Fusheng's expression tighten, he wisely abandoned the thought and began explaining:
"You already know about Chimeric Soul Beasts. In truth, this isn't a new idea. The Spirit Pagoda experimented with it long ago. Back then, the Pagoda invested immense resources—soul beasts, soul spirits, mountains of money, and countless rare materials—trying to artificially create soul beasts."
"And indeed, they succeeded. The very first artificial soul spirits were created this way."
"But very soon, the upper ranks of the Spirit Pagoda grew dissatisfied with merely weak artificial spirits. They wanted to go further—to craft a single, supreme soul spirit, one infused with the powers of multiple super soul beasts. For this, they began a frenzy of slaughter, harvesting the bloodlines of every powerful beast they could, even daring to target the two Darkgold Dreadclaw Bears left behind by Huo Yuhao."
"In the end, they failed. They couldn't even fully unravel the bloodline of a single super soul beast, let alone merge several. Most of their creations collapsed the moment they took form. A handful survived, but at best, they were only slightly stronger than ordinary soul beasts. The cost proved too great, and the Pagoda abandoned the plan, shifting their focus instead to artificially extending the lifespans of existing spirits."
He paused, then added with a faint smile:
"What we've accomplished with the Chimeric Soul Beasts, however, is different. With the help of 'Error' and 'Fool' powers, we've been able to bypass those limitations. Even if one of these creatures is only of the hundred-year class, absorbing it is as difficult as absorbing a ten-thousand-year spirit."
"Therefore, before creating them, we always select a primary host. The Chimera is then parasitized and stabilized through the host's clone perception. This makes the body structure viable, and because it's absorbed through the clone, the difficulty of fusion is nearly zero."
Nan Fusheng's brow twitched. "Could you get to the point already?"
Thankfully, Qian Gu Bubai wasn't completely oblivious. Realizing Nan Fusheng's irritation, he finally cut to the chase:
"The one you just saw—we call it the Devourer Worm (暴俎虫)."
"It was evolved with a Thousand-Jin Ant Queen as its core. At first, we wanted to see if it could follow a swarm-beast path, multiplying endlessly. But as we 'raised it,' things took… an unexpected turn."
"You gave us three Worms of Time to cultivate Chimeric Beasts. One went to the Darkgold Bear, one to the Ant Queen, and one to the Man-Faced Demon Spider."
"As a result, the Darkgold Bear became the Ghostbear. But the Ant Queen and the Man-Faced Demon Spider… well, those two idiots decided to start fighting instead of cooperating."
"One sneered, 'Mere food? You'll serve as breeding stock for my army!' The other roared back, 'So what if I'm suppressed by bloodline? I'll defy the heavens themselves if I must! My fate is my own!
"…And then, somehow, the two of them fused."
"At first, it wasn't like this. But after devouring several other soul beasts, it transformed into the monstrosity you just saw. Despite appearances, at its core, it's still insectoid—so we named it the Devourer Worm."
Nan Fusheng's face darkened, veins twitching on his forehead.
Seeing this, one of the staff quickly added, "Don't underestimate it, though. Its fusion has given it terrifying abilities. Those tentacles on its back? They're parasitic insect-heads. A single bite drains away soul power and vitality in an instant."
"Moreover, it has inherited the Chimeric ability as well. Whatever it devours, it gains—and the abilities it takes on are even stronger than the originals. Though in most cases, it doesn't even bother using them. It simply relies on its tentacles to annihilate its enemies."
"On top of that, the Devourer Worm can fly—its aerial mobility is no weaker than a dedicated flying soul beast."
Right now, its cultivation is just under a thousand years. Once it breaks into the millennial stage, its body will expand dramatically. Our estimates suggest that, with further growth, its final form could rival the Titan Snow Demon in sheer size. And an adult Titan Snow Demon is typically over fifty meters tall.