Chapter 855: Devouring Alive

It took a full three days to extract the soul of the tiger-striped monster bit by bit. During that time, it struggled instinctively a few times, but was always tightly held in Xiao Hei’s palm. Additionally, Xiao Hei would tap its forehead regularly to keep it in a comatose state, making the whole process relatively smooth.
Once the soul was extracted, its body became an empty shell, but Su Che still made sure Xiao Hei continued to control it. After all, for creatures from other universes, there was always a possibility of them rising as zombies.
Su Che began to read its soul memories and didn’t take long to get a general understanding.
“Let him go. To be precise, he’s already dead.”
It wasn’t until Su Che said this that Xiao Hei dropped him at the foot of the Creation Divine Tree with a thud.
“This guy comes from the Haote Universe Space. Of course, ‘Haote’ is the name he gave it himself. It’s similar to how I would call my own space world the Immortal Prison Universe…”
Su Che said these words to Tian Yin. He could communicate mentally with Lao Hei and Xiao Hei without needing to speak aloud.
“The power system of the Haote Universe is quite unique for us. They treat their own bodies as magical treasures, focusing on physical cultivation. In other words, their bodies are their strongest and most resilient magical treasures.”
Tian Yin nodded gently and said thoughtfully, “Even so, it’s still quite incredible that they can train their bodies to be stronger than even Chaos Spiritual Treasures.”
“Yes,” replied Su Che. “But what seems incredible to us is completely logical to them. After all, the laws of each universe space are vastly different, each with its own characteristics.”
Tian Yin asked again, “Then why was this person able to break through the spatial blockade of the Haote Universe and enter the Great Chaos?”
She asked this because the heavenly barriers in her own universe were extremely strict. Aside from Su Che, no one else seemed to have received approval from the heavens to emerge unharmed.
Su Che replied, “That’s because the Haote Universe isn’t facing the death threat from the Origin Demons, so it doesn’t care about losing its peak-level warriors. As long as someone has the ability to survive in the Chaos, the Haote Universe’s warriors can enter and exit freely.”
“So, there must be more than just him among the peak-level warriors of the Haote Universe who have entered the Chaos, right?” Tian Yin was worried about encountering more of this tiger-striped monster’s kind during their journey.

“Indeed, it’s not just him.” Su Che nodded with a smile, “But there’s no need to worry. They aren’t very close to each other, so there’s no one who would avenge him. Besides, the Chaos is so vast that it’s highly unlikely to encounter another Hoteo—such a chance is extremely small.”
Tian Yin felt a bit relieved and asked, “Why is he targeting us? Why persist in troubling us like this?”
“He wants you!”
Su Che explained with a smile, “But it’s not because of your beauty, as in his eyes, your appearance doesn’t meet his aesthetic standards. What he wants is the sonic powers you possess.”
“Oh?” Tian Yin asked curiously, “What can my sonic powers do for him?”
“Let me calculate…”
Su Che silently calculated for a while before saying, “At our previous pace of travel, about three to four years away from here, there’s a small island in the Chaos. Of course, ‘island’ is just a convenient term for understanding—it’s actually a giant rock floating in the Chaos.”
“In the central area of this island grows a primordial spiritual root of ultimate value in the Chaos—a fruit tree thousands of feet tall, covered with Chaos spiritual fruits that resemble grapes.”
“For us Chaos travelers, such spiritual fruits are true treasures. Eating just one can boost our cultivation by tens of millions of years, and they possess Chaos-based power attributes.”
Hearing this, Tian Yin’s expression changed slightly as she asked curiously, “With such amazing effects, wouldn’t those fruits have already been picked clean?”
“It’s not that simple.”
Su Che continued, “On the island live a group of powerful Chaos magical beasts that forbid any travelers from approaching that fruit tree. These beasts are terrifyingly strong; even if dozens of Chaos travelers unite, they wouldn’t stand a chance against them.”
“Fortunately, the lower halves of those beasts are connected to the island itself, so they can’t leave the island to chase travelers. As long as one stays outside the island, they can avoid their fierce attacks. Conversely, sneaking up to the fruit tree under their noses to pick the fruits is incredibly difficult.”
Tian Yin guessed something and asked, “So, is it because my sonic powers can suppress those magical beasts that the tiger-patterned monster is targeting us?”
“That’s likely,” Su Che nodded. “But this is just his speculation. Only by trying can we find out what the truth is.”

“You want to go there, right?” Tianyin knew Su Che well and understood what his needs were at this stage.
“That’s right. I need that kind of fruit to rapidly improve my cultivation level—at least to reach the realm of Immortal Lord. Only then can I have enough strength to protect myself in this chaos.”
Su Che said seriously, “For me, this is one of the opportunities I want to seize in this chaos.”
In fact, Su Che had no prior knowledge of this island. The map drawn by Merchant Mold didn’t include any information about it either.
This wasn’t surprising; no one could claim to know everything about the entire chaos—knowing everything and having been to every place. The chaos was vast beyond measure, without sky or earth, and even without any permanent references. Even Merchant Mold could only consider wherever he happened to be as his home, wandering and getting lost his entire life.
The map he drew could only serve as a reference and couldn’t cover everything in detail.
“However, before going there, there’s one thing I need to prepare. Maybe it can help me take another step forward in my strength.”
Su Che smiled at Tianyin, “It’s easy to imagine that on that island, it’s not just the chaotic beasts that pose a threat to us. Those chaotic travelers could also turn into the most dangerous enemies at any moment.”
“That’s true,” Tianyin nodded. “Fortunately, with Xiao Hei, we have another helper.”
In the chaos, Xiao Hei’s combat strength might even surpass that of Su Che and Tianyin combined. Just like alligators, which are no match for lions on land, but have almost no natural enemies in water.
After discussing this, Su Che began studying with Lao Hei and the Tree of Fate on how to use the body of the tiger-patterned monster to further enhance his strength.
Su Che’s idea was that if he could swallow and merge the monster’s body into his own, turning it into part of himself, it would not only greatly improve his defense but also his physical strength.
Currently, his strength was amplified by 900 times. After merging, it should be no problem to exceed 1,000 times, right?
Reaching this level would mean calling it a 1,000-fold amplification—truly something worth looking forward to!
But the problem was that the tiger-patterned monster’s body was extremely tough. Even the Heavenly Dao forces of the Immortal Prison couldn’t break it down. It was like swallowing an iron lump that couldn’t be digested—let alone swallowed and merged.

At this moment, over a dozen vines of the Creation Divine Tree wrapped around this physical body, entering through its mouth, nose, ear holes, and other openings in an attempt to find weaknesses from within. This method was certainly disgusting, but fortunately, it wasn’t Su Che who did it personally—it was a plant like the Creation Divine Tree, so he could tolerate it psychologically. Cannibalistic vines—quite normal, right? Of course, as long as it could enhance his strength, Su Che could endure even the most disgusting things. Even if he had to chew someone up piece by piece and swallow them, so what? To put it bluntly, if eating filth could make one stronger, one had to do it. Cultivators aren’t so delicate. After a long time, the Creation Divine Tree reached a final conclusion: “Master, his flesh and bones are far too tough; they can only be used as materials for refining weapons and cannot be transformed into energy to strengthen your body. Only his internal blood, bone marrow, organs, and so on can be converted into energy.” “Alright.” Since that was the case, Su Che had no choice but to accept reality and replied, “Then convert everything that can be converted!” The Creation Divine Tree immediately took action. The dozen vines inserted into the tiger-patterned monster’s body began to devour his blood, bone marrow, organs, and more. To minimize the disgusting feeling of cannibalism for Su Che, this time the Creation Divine Tree would not produce any fruits but would instead deliver enhanced energy in gaseous form directly into Su Che’s body, strengthening his blood, bone marrow, and organs separately. This also aligned with the common saying, “Eat what you need to replenish.” In short, one-third of the results accumulated by the tiger-patterned monster over billions of years would be used to strengthen Su Che’s physical condition. During the enhancement process, Su Che didn’t need to do anything; he simply felt the gaseous energy penetrate his body and spread throughout his various organs, just like when cultivating and absorbing the spiritual energy of the world—without any discomfort. This process would last over ten days. During that time, Su Che, Lao Hei, and the Creation Divine Tree discussed how to utilize the monster’s toughest flesh and bones. “Three options!” suggested the Creation Divine Tree. “The first is to use them to craft armor. Wearing it would provide extremely strong protection. Basically, it would be almost impossible for anyone to harm the master with a Chaos Spirit Treasure-level artifact.” “Not very good!”

Su Che immediately denied it: “Wearing this guy on you would feel really uncomfortable psychologically.”
“What’s there to be uncomfortable about?” Lao He said with a smirk. “This guy comes from another universe; he’s not human. He’s no different from pigs, cows, or sheep. It’s the same as wearing a sheepskin coat.”
“It’s still a bit different. After all, he’s still a humanoid monster.”
Su Che smiled and said, “Let’s talk about the second option.”