Cultivation by Trial and Error

The ugly woman in the pool, with a collapsed nose and a broad mouth, had one eye larger than the other, and her disheveled hair was like straw.

Just this image alone was enough to make one's scalp tingle upon seeing her.

Luckily, Chen Hai had previous experience encountering a Snake Demon, making his mental fortitude far more resilient than the average person.

Otherwise, just this one look would probably have frightened him enough to cry out loud.

"Who are you? Was it you who killed the child in the pool during the day?"

Chen Hai's Soul Body floated above the water.

Standing about six or seven meters away from the ugly woman, on the water's surface, he confronted her and harshly interrogated her.

"I am Mother Gejie. So, you have come because of what happened during the day?"

"Feasting on a little soul snack, pulling someone into the water, fresh and tender souls are the ultimate delicacy for our kind!"

"What? Do you also want a piece of the action?"

With a look of fond reminiscence, the ugly woman who called herself Mother Gejie licked her tongue.

Her tongue, forked at the end, flicked out like a whip.

'Crack...' a crisp sound echoed in the empty space.

Chen Hai had not even had time to react when he saw a white flash, and he was already wrapped up by Mother Gejie's tongue.

This Mother Gejie clearly had no sense of martial honor.

While speaking with Chen Hai, she suddenly attacked without warning, not even bothering to call out first.

Her wide mouth opened and closed, growing to a size even larger than her own body.

Her tongue, with Chen Hai wrapped in it, pulled him toward that gaping maw.

Mother Gejie's tongue was not only incredibly strong and tough but also seemed to have a terrifying stickiness.

Once wrapped up in this tongue, Chen Hai was completely unable to break free.

"This move again? Do all these demons have a one-track mind?"

"Okay for a snake to swallow a leech, but now this Mother Gejie also wants to eat me; do they see me as a dish or something?"

It seemed like he was in a dangerous predicament, but Chen Hai was not panicking.

Last time, when the soul of the Snake Demon tried to swallow him, he was lucky enough to cling to its upper jaw.

But now, being rolled up by Mother Gejie's large tongue and dragged to her mouth.

He wasn't entirely certain he could find an opportunity to cling onto a suitable spot inside her mouth!

However, facing this situation, he naturally had a plan.

"Pfft..." a muffled sound.

The large leech he had transformed into, the size of an adult human, burst open and turned into thousands of little leeches the size of thumbs.

Only a small part of these little leeches remained stuck to Mother Gejie's tongue, unable to escape.

After this portion of leeches was swallowed by Mother Gejie, Chen Hai clearly felt that he had lost part of his soul's strength.

But this situation was well within his expectations.

The leeches that successfully escaped were still densely packed, a large swarm of them.

These leeches, like a blanket, rolled towards Mother Gejie.

It was unclear what kind of demon Mother Gejie really was, her skin was incredibly tough to the extreme.

Chen Hai, having transformed into a leech, found that most of his body was unable to pierce through her skin, truly latching onto her body.

Seizing the opportunity, Mother Gejie opened her mouth wide and, with a flick of her tongue, stuck to many leeches and swallowed them into her belly.

However, at this time, Chen Hai finally found a weak spot in Mother Gejie's defenses.

The moment one leech succeeded in clinging to the lower abdomen of Mother Gejie and thrust its sucker inside, the rest of the leeches converged on this area.

In the blink of an eye, the countless small leeches gathered together and reformed into a single giant leech, taller than a man.

Streams of coolness surged from Chen Hai's sucker, absorbed into his body.

Then, at a swift pace, it fused with his own power.

This was the most pure form of soul power, a force with which Chen Hai was all too familiar.

Within a few breaths, the power he had lost due to the small leeches being consumed by Mother Gejie had been replenished.

Having Cultivated for so long with very slow strength growth, his power began to balloon wildly as he absorbed the soul power from Mother Gejie.

"Damn it, it's that large leech, it's draining my power..."

At this moment, Mother Gejie's face had drastically changed.

When leeches feed on blood, they secrete a numbing substance that makes one unaware of pain or itch, neglecting its presence.

But such a large leech clinging to her lower abdomen was impossible for her to ignore.

Moreover, she was very aware of the rapid loss of her original strength.

Opening her mouth wide once more, Mother Gejie shot out her huge tongue again, coiling it around Chen Hai.

Regrettably, a leech that has bitten into someone is very hard to pull off.

With both ends firmly attached to Mother Gejie's lower abdomen, Chen Hai, no matter how desperately the great tongue tugged, simply could not be peeled off.

It had taken Mother Gejie over a hundred years of Cultivation to reach her current Realm.

But now, in just this short moment, she felt she had already lost at least ten years of Cultivation.

At this time, Mother Gejie was truly in a state of utter desperation.

Seeing that her tongue could not budge Chen Hai, she lashed it at him like a whip, starting to strike him wildly.

In just a short while, the great leech that Chen Hai had become was whipped countless times by Ancestor Gejie's tongue.

Such attacks, every time they landed on Chen Hai's body, would leave a clear whip mark.

This kind of soul-borne attack brought pain that was many times sharper and more unbearable than direct physical harm to the Physical Body.

Sadly for Mother Gejie, her attacks were merely trifles for Chen Hai.

His two suckers were constantly affixed to Mother Gejie's lower abdomen, regardless of her assaults, Chen Hai remained indifferent, paying no heed.

The soul power being drained was incredibly pure, continuously merging into his body.

This extreme, delightful sensation had already shattered the pain from Mother Gejie's strikes and completely dissipated them.

Time slowly passed.

In the blink of an eye, over ten minutes had gone by.

Mother Gejie, having tried everything and exhausted all her tricks, still could do nothing to Chen Hai, utterly failing to deal with him.

As her strength continued to dwindle, her Divine Soul had already sunk into extreme weakness.

Perhaps pushed into a corner, Mother Gejie plunged directly into the lake waters.

Her Physical Body lay hidden beneath these waters, and now she sought to use her body's power to shake Chen Hai off.