This might be the only chance.
If missed, such an opportunity would never come again.
Su Li descended along the building, moving lower and lower. Perhaps because this monster was so terrifying, the large number of monsters that had originally gathered at the base of the building had all vanished. Whether corpse beasts or sea spiders, Su Li couldn't see a single one. From the twenty-ninth floor to the twenty-eighth, all were empty.
Su Li quickly sank to the twenty-sixth floor, spotting floating corpses in the water from a distance. These corpses had once contained translucent tendrils, but now those tendrils had been pulled out, all converging upward to deal with the frenzied Nightmare Beast.
"What kind of monster is this? Are these countless translucent tendrils its true body? Or is the main body still below?"
Su Li pondered silently as he descended. He didn't dare get too close, using the building as cover on the other side, observing from afar while moving down quickly, ready to flee if things went wrong.
He activated the "Peeking Rune" several times, but unfortunately couldn't capture any data on these translucent tendrils.
In his observations, the deeper he went, the more corpses he saw—not just human bodies, but those of various monsters as well, and the translucent tendrils grew increasingly numerous.
As the interwoven tendrils multiplied, the Nightmare Beast above gradually became entangled. Countless translucent tendrils gathered together, forming a massive cocoon that trapped the beast inside.
This cocoon bound the Nightmare Beast, dragging it downward.
By now, Su Li had descended to the twentieth floor. Looking up, he suddenly saw the enormous cocoon sinking with the Nightmare Beast inside, and he knew something was wrong.
He hadn't expected the Nightmare Beast to be captured so quickly, without the mutual destruction he had imagined. Now that this unknown monster was retreating to its lair, his chance to profit from the conflict was lost.
Su Li stopped, sighing inwardly. Since the opportunity had slipped away, he thought about leaving.
Just then, the translucent cocoon suddenly exploded. Startled, Su Li quickly realized that although the Nightmare Beast had been bound, it hadn't been killed. Dragged down and seemingly helpless, it had unleashed a "supersonic wave attack" at this critical moment.
This supersonic wave was devastating, instantly blasting the cocoon apart, severing countless tendrils and dealing a heavy blow to the unknown monster below. The Nightmare Beast broke free, its belly still pierced by many broken tendrils, and frantically paddled its limbs, trying to ascend and escape.
Though it had shattered the cocoon and broken countless tendrils, the Nightmare Beast was clearly terrified of this unknown creature, unwilling to fight head-on, and only wanted to flee quickly.
At that moment, from the deep water below, a massive translucent mass suddenly emerged. Su Li, hiding in a corner far away using the building for cover, widened his eyes. Finally, he saw what Xu Xuehui had called the "big flower."
So, deep in the water, there really was a translucent giant flower with six petals. When open, its diameter exceeded ten meters.
The countless translucent tendrils all grew from these six petals.
The strangest part was that at the center of the flower, instead of stamens, there was a face.
From a distance, it looked blurry, but from Su Li's angle, this translucent, eerie face vaguely resembled a human face, with indistinct features.
A translucent giant flower with a human face at its center and tendrils covering its petals—Su Li had never imagined such a bizarre creature existed. Just one glance filled him with inexplicable fear.
Originally, this flower creature had bound the Nightmare Beast and was dragging it down to feed, but the beast's supersonic wave had blasted the cocoon apart, allowing it to escape. Now, using tendrils to recapture it was too late.
The creature's true body finally moved. The six-petaled flower with a human face shot up from the deep water with incredible speed, chasing the fleeing Nightmare Beast above.
A vertical eye-like pattern formed on Su Li's brow as he activated the "Peeking Rune" again. This time, observing the human-faced flower, he finally captured information.
"Corpse Mother, a mysterious lifeform rooted in the earth, containing a mysterious treasure. It grows from the earth, nourished by corpse energy. Its root is its only fatal weakness. Cutting the root can kill the Corpse Mother and obtain the mysterious treasure within."
As the information resonated in his mind, Su Li's heart pounded.
"So this monster is called the 'Corpse Mother.'" Su Li watched as the flower shot upward like lightning, catching up to the Nightmare Beast. Its petals closed, trapping the beast inside.
The Nightmare Beast struggled violently within the closed petals.
Now, Su Li also saw a slender green stem beneath the closed giant flower, about as thick as an adult's arm, extending into the deep water.
According to the information he had just received, this stem was rooted in the ground and was the Corpse Mother's only weakness. Cutting it would kill it.
And killing the Corpse Mother would yield some mysterious treasure within.
This thought made Su Li's heart race.
"Xuehui's 'big flower' must be this Corpse Mother, and the treasure she mentioned is probably this mysterious thing inside it. That stem is its only weakness—no wonder it didn't rush out to catch the Nightmare Beast from the start. Exposing the stem would reveal its weakness, a risk."
Su Li looked up at the violently trembling Corpse Mother. The Nightmare Beast, wrapped in the flower, was still struggling. Unless it could use its sonic attack again, escape would be difficult, but its struggles were rapidly weakening—it was almost done for.
"Do I take the risk or not? The chance will be gone soon; that Nightmare Beast is about to give out."
Su Li's thoughts churned. His right hand tightened around the cleaver he had been carrying, veins bulging on the back of his hand.
The stem wasn't thick—one clean cut should sever it. But what truly made him hesitate was the uncertainty: would the Corpse Mother die instantly after the cut? If it lingered for a while, that would be trouble.
Even the powerful Nightmare Beast had been easily captured. If he cut the stem and it didn't die right away, he was finished.
"But according to the Peeking Rune's hint, that possibility should be slim. Cutting its stem should kill it immediately."