Chapter 497: Foreign Body

Chapter 497: The Foreign Object

Whether it was due to Li Wei's actions or simply because they had reached a critical moment, the Ice Sovereign exhaled a frigid airstream.

Fortunately, at the last instant, Li Wei and Saint Shea had already rushed out of the passage.

They successfully evaded the fierce blast of arctic cold.

Li Wei gazed around at the scenery and murmured, "So this is inside the Ice Sovereign?"

Not far behind him lay the exchange channel between that icy gale and the outside world.

Where exactly he now stood remained unclear, but this place looked nothing like the interior of a living being.

He had originally imagined something more along the lines of a vast fleshy cavity.

Yet what met his eyes resembled more a cavern.

Except for the occasional twitching of the surrounding walls, Li Wei might have thought himself inside an ordinary mountain cave.

He released his mental perception, only to find it could not penetrate the surrounding flesh.

It could only extend forward through the narrow passages.

Even when his psychic senses stretched over a thousand meters, no abnormal signs appeared.

Despite possessing such extensive mental reach, without being able to pierce the meaty barriers, locating some so-called foreign object within the colossal body of the Ice Sovereign would prove enormously difficult.

Largely, it would depend on luck.

Li Wei turned toward Saint Shea beside him and asked, "Which way do we go now?"

Since she had heard the Ice Sovereign's plea, perhaps it would be better to let her lead the way.

Saint Shea replied, "This way."

With Saint Shea in the lead, the two ventured deeper into the Ice Sovereign's body.

"By the way," Li Wei said as they walked, "Aren't you the one who hates cramped spaces most? Why did you agree to come in here?"

Saint Shea tilted her head slightly, pondering. "Maybe... because I don't want it to keep suffering."

"Hmm?"

Li Wei glanced at her with surprise.

Well, he didn't feel like thinking too much about it.

At heart, Saint Shea was still just a child. Even though the power of time had accelerated her into adulthood,

her mind hadn't matured all that much.

Children often acted purely on emotion, lacking rationality.

Still, as her guardian, he shouldn't have followed her into danger like this.

Outside, he should have stopped her.

His willingness to accompany Saint Shea into this perilous venture likely stemmed from believing there might be a chance to resolve the Ice Sovereign's problem from within.

Thus freeing the Ice Sovereign from its enemy's control.

That would solve the crisis facing the City of Ice.

For reasons unknown, Li Wei always felt that performing the divine ritual would bring misfortune.

He mocked himself inwardly.

Could it be because the divine ritual in Maple Leaf City had been exploited by dark cultists, summoning an evil god, leaving him with psychological trauma?

Was he afraid the divine ritual in the City of Ice would also go awry, leading to events beyond his control?

Ultimately, it came down to Li Wei feeling that gods were simply too powerful to confront.

When facing the Ice Sovereign, he sensed its strength, yet it wasn't the type of power impossible to deal with.

Even if he couldn't win, he could always flee.

But against a deity, such options wouldn't exist.

Unless he avoided them entirely from the start.

Li Wei disliked situations exceeding his capacity for control.

Guided by Saint Shea, the two passed through winding passages deep into the Ice Sovereign's body.

As they walked, Li Wei wondered what these passages actually were.

Normal biological organisms shouldn't possess such open channels connecting internally with the external environment. Aside from necessary openings, every creature naturally minimized contact between their insides and the outside world.

There was no way they'd have countless tiny passages linking to the exterior like this.

Nor could these possibly be capillaries or similar structures belonging to the Ice Sovereign.

The more Li Wei considered it, the more confused he became.

"Forget it. Viewing otherworldly creatures through the lens of Earth biology is unreasonable to begin with, especially something like the Ice Sovereign—an ultra-massive entity transcending ordinary biological concepts."

If given the opportunity, Li Wei certainly wanted to determine which part of the Ice Sovereign's anatomy they currently occupied.

However, now wasn't the right time for such pursuits.

Soon, the scene before them underwent a dramatic transformation.

At the end of the narrow passage lay an immense space.

Standing at the passage's terminus, Li Wei and Saint Shea peered outward into what appeared to be a vast sloping plain resembling grassland.

Li Wei widened his eyes, staring toward the slope's distant edge, hoping to discern what lay there.

His gaze pierced the darkness across great distance until reaching the plain's boundary.

There stood a massive white wall stretching endlessly left and right, vanishing into obscurity.

After brief contemplation, Li Wei surmised they must be located within the Ice Sovereign's mouth.

"We need to descend," Saint Shea said.

Li Wei nodded, jumping down alongside her.

Their exit point hovered dozens of meters above the expansive plain below.

Looking opposite the direction where he'd spotted the white wall earlier, Li Wei unsurprisingly beheld a bottomless black void.

That must be the esophagus.

While still airborne, Saint Shea shouted excitedly, "I see it!"

Li Wei looked questioningly at her. "See what?"

"The foreign object! Whatever's hurting the big guy!"

Li Wei quickly followed her indicated direction with his eyes.

Only after careful observation did he notice numerous small black dots scattered across the sloped plain below.

Li Wei and Saint Xi soared toward that direction, and as they drew closer, Li Wei's expression turned to shock as he clearly made out the appearance of those small black dots.

"Star Worms? Why are they here?"

The emergence of Star Worms from the Ice Emperor's mouth was something Li Wei had never anticipated.

Star Worms were creatures that lived in the stellar realm, possessing extremely powerful adaptive capabilities.

The same attack could hardly inflict a second injury upon them.

In the past, Li Wei had only encountered Star Worms within the Infinite Labyrinth.

The Infinite Labyrinth was the name given by the Elemental Tower; the true name of that place should have been the Divine Prison.

It was there that Li Wei obtained his first legendary weapon—Judgment's Edge.

A super weapon with an instant death effect, capable of easily killing any enemy below the legendary level.

Recently, Li Wei had rarely used this weapon.

However, the current situation seemed like the perfect moment to wield Judgment's Edge.

After all, aside from Judgment's Edge, any elemental attack would be adapted to and gradually neutralized by the Star Worms.

Only attacks operating on the level of fundamental rules could inflict absolute damage upon them.

The Star Worms upon the plains also noticed the two figures in the sky. The shells upon their backs split open, growing wings as delicate as cicada wings, emitting a buzzing sound as they flew toward the pair.

An overwhelming swarm of Star Worms descended like locusts.

Whoosh!

Judgment's Edge transformed into a brilliant streak of white light, carving a beautiful arc as it shot into the cluster of Star Worms.

Pop pop pop!

In an instant, the streak of light erupted like a storm, slicing countless Star Worms to pieces.

(End of Chapter)