Chapter 187: Look at That Green Caterpillar…
Chapter 187: Look at That Green Caterpillar…
Wang Che walked quickly. After just a brief glance at his surroundings, he released Green Caterpillar and started moving forward.
What could be said?
For Green Caterpillar, well… it only paused for a moment when it saw the remains of its ancestors, also Green Caterpillars. Otherwise, it felt almost nothing.
After all, it had already met Empty God Dragon. These were nothing in comparison.
Plus, after a week of Wang Che’s Spiritual Pressure training, facing such an artificial environment was no challenge at all for Green Caterpillar.
“Look, ahead is the corpse of a Green Caterpillar, estimated to be over three thousand years old.”
Wang Che suddenly pointed at a relatively large skeleton up ahead, checking Green Caterpillar’s reaction.
Green Caterpillar: “(￣▽￣)”
Green Caterpillar took one glance and then looked away.
It didn’t even slow its pace.
Magnetic Sword, nearby, was much the same. As a mechanical life form, it had emotions too.
But against illusions of this level, it had developed strong resistance.
Honestly, it even felt that those remains couldn’t compare to Wang Che’s Spiritual Pressure.
“Good.”
Wang Che nodded with satisfaction, then pointed behind them. “Now look back at the other Soul Pets. Think about the past few days—was all that effort worth it?”
Green Caterpillar turned around and saw a large group of Soul Pets staying in place.
Their eyes clearly showed reluctance and fear, unwilling to move.
Green Caterpillar’s spirits lifted, and it immediately felt very cool.
All those days enduring Wang Che’s Spiritual Pressure were not in vain!
By then, the other students and their Soul Pets had reacted.
They were all staring at Wang Che ahead, their faces showing shock and confusion.
Why could a Green Caterpillar and a Magnetic Sword adapt so quickly?
Green Caterpillar really enjoyed the stunned expressions of the other Soul Pets.
Magnetic Sword didn’t care. Instead, it looked around excitedly.
When it spotted some unique Soul Beast remains, it even ran over for a closer look.
Green Caterpillar thought Little Swordie might be developing some bad habits, so it quickly pulled Magnetic Sword back.
It absolutely wouldn’t allow its little buddy to have any weird or even creepy interests.
It had to correct that behavior!
Actually, Magnetic Sword just had a strong curiosity about new things. It had never seen bones and remains like these before.
Fear wasn’t in its nature.
That little thing wasn’t afraid of anything. Once it got used to the environment, its curiosity kicked right in.
“Ahead is the first challenge… I hope the students behind can catch up soon.”
Wang Che thought about it. Given the state of the other students, their Soul Pets would probably need some time to adjust.
It might be hard for them to keep up.
But… what Wang Che didn’t expect was…
“Little Eagle, look at that Green Caterpillar! It’s not scared, yet you’re still hesitating here. Do you think that’s right?”
Chen Fei immediately pointed at the Green Caterpillar ahead and said to Fierce Thunder Warhawk, “Can’t you even compare to a Green Caterpillar? Come on, let’s move forward!”
“Scree!” Fierce Thunder Warhawk was spurred by Chen Fei’s words.
Even without Chen Fei’s encouragement, its own pride was awakened.
If a Green Caterpillar could advance, why couldn’t it?
Soon, Fierce Thunder Warhawk, guided by Chen Fei, slowly started moving forward step by step.
At that, the other students quickly caught on.
“Ground Shaker Weasel, look at that Green Caterpillar. You’re both Soul Pets that live on the ground… Are you really going to let it beat you?”
“Crystal Thorn Grass, look at that Green Caterpillar. Your vitality is much stronger than an insect’s. Are you going to let it outdo you?”
“Burst Thunder Fang, stand up! The Magnetic Sword that beat you has already gone ahead. Do you even deserve to be its rival if you stay here?”
“Flame Sparrow, look, that’s the Green Caterpillar that defeated you. You weren’t satisfied with losing that match—do you really want to lose to it again now?”
…
In no time, student after student used Magnetic Sword and Green Caterpillar as examples to motivate their own Soul Pets.
The effect was surprisingly good!
Especially among the Qihang Cup contestants from Xiyue Continent.
Within half an hour, their Soul Pets were all starting to move forward!
One by one, huffing and puffing, they looked at the Green Caterpillar and Magnetic Sword ahead and began walking forward.
This left students from other continents, especially the two with Psychic-Type Spirit Pets, utterly stunned.
Not being from Xiyue Continent, they never expected this kind of method to encourage Soul Pets…
Soon enough…
Human nature is to mimic.
“XXX, do you really think you’re worse than a Green Caterpillar?”
This uniform motivational phrase quickly spread among all the students.
It had to be said, the effect was extremely strong.
They were all Soul Pets. Losing in the Qihang Cup was one thing.
But this place had nothing to do with combat strength.
If they lost here too, it would be too embarrassing.
Though Soul Pets had different personalities, they all had their own pride.
If it were a King Soul Pet, they might accept it.
But a Green Caterpillar? They couldn’t accept that and immediately pushed forward in pursuit!
In less than an hour, almost all of them had started out…
——
Outside.
A middle-aged officer stared at the moving dots on the screen, his mind full of question marks:
“This year’s students are quite impressive, aren’t they? They adapted to the Soul Illusion Realm environment so quickly! In under an hour, they’ve all set off for the first challenge?”
Using special communicators the students carried, they could detect the general situation via specialized Mechanical Soul Pets.
They simply projected the students’ movement status.
Limited by the equipment, the projection showed only dots, indicating roughly which challenge they had reached and their progress.
The specific details were unknown.
In previous years, it was hard to set out after just a few hours of adaptation.
“Someone must have taken the lead and influenced the others, right?”
The sergeant responsible for observation, standing next to the middle-aged officer, pointed at the small light dot that was almost at the first checkpoint. “This student was the first to move. I don’t know how he adapted so quickly… The other students probably saw it and were motivated…”
“That doesn’t make sense. There have been cases before where someone led the way. How could that influence or even drive the other students? And in such a short time?”
The middle-aged officer shook his head repeatedly.
As the person in charge of this Soul Illusion Realm, he was quite familiar with the backgrounds of these students.
That first student was definitely unusual!
“This student is impressive. He has already reached the first checkpoint. I wonder how long he will take to get through it.”
The sergeant said in surprise.
…
Wang Che had indeed arrived at the entrance of the first checkpoint.
The first checkpoint was the Bridge of the Dead.
After crossing the battlefield-like plain, the next step was to traverse this old, broken-down bridge.
The bridge was not wide—less than five meters—but wide enough for small to medium-sized Soul Pets to pass.
It was entirely made of wood-like material, with old-looking ropes on both sides.
Occasionally, a few holes could be seen.
On either side of the bridge was a misty abyss, where ghostly shadows sometimes appeared, as if something terrifying was hiding there.
“About two hundred meters long.”
Wang Che said, “Not too long. There is a strong soul fluctuation on the bridge. Most likely, when you step onto it, you will experience some illusions that affect your spirit. Be prepared.”
Green Caterpillar immediately perked up.
Magnetic Sword emitted red light.
Wang Che, along with his two Soul Pets, stepped onto the bridge.
The moment they set foot on it,
ghostly, illusory light shadows flew out from the abyss below the bridge and shot into Wang Che, Green Caterpillar, and Magnetic Sword.
“Soul Energy?”
Wang Che felt a slight shock in his spirit and noticed the surroundings slowly changing.
It turned into the scene he encountered when he first stepped into the immortal sect in the past.
“Just illusions? Break!”
Wang Che shattered the illusions instantly, and the surroundings returned to normal.
But that strand of Soul Energy flew into Wang Che’s soul.
“Good stuff! This strand of Soul Energy contains a special energy. When absorbed, it can affect a living being’s Spiritual Intelligence and create illusions. But if you endure it, you can absorb this strand of Soul Energy. If you fail, your Spiritual Power will be absorbed by this Soul Energy, and you’ll enter a weakened state.”
Wang Che instantly understood the test of the first checkpoint.
“This is a great place to train Divine Sense! Such special Soul Energy—could it be left behind by those Soul Ghosts? This Soul Energy seems to have been purified to some extent… It only creates illusions and isn’t aggressive.”
Considering that this was a beginner-level Soul Illusion Realm and had been cleared by the War Zone,
Wang Che understood.
The claim that the checkpoints could enhance Spiritual Power wasn’t false.
If one could pass the first checkpoint and absorb this strand of Soul Energy, their Spiritual Power would indeed improve significantly.
Wang Che looked at the cliffs on both sides of the bridge, wondering, was there only one strand of Soul Energy?
Couldn’t there be more?
After Wang Che shattered the illusions instantly, no more Soul Energy flew out from below.
“Probably, more will appear as we move forward.”
Wang Che glanced at Green Caterpillar and Magnetic Sword beside him.
He could break the illusions instantly, but the two little ones clearly wouldn’t find it so easy.
Especially Green Caterpillar, which was grinning foolishly, as if something wonderful had happened in its illusions.
Something that made it so happy.
Magnetic Sword’s body glowed with a bright red light, clearly in an excited state. It seemed deeply immersed in the illusions, unable to break free.
Both Soul Pets looked as if they had lost their souls.
Wang Che waited for a while without interfering.
This was only the first checkpoint, so it was best for them to break the illusions themselves.
Soon, Wang Che noticed Green Caterpillar’s foolish grin change… It first frowned, then showed anger.
Then it opened its eyes, looking around in confusion, and gradually came back to its senses.
Wang Che was quite curious about what the little one had seen in its illusions.
“What did you see in your illusions?” Wang Che asked.
“Sii wu, sii wu sii wu!” Green Caterpillar said.
Wang Che understood and couldn’t help but laugh.
It turned out that in the illusions, it saw itself transformed into an Empty God Dragon—majestic, powerful, and unrivaled.
Clearly, that strand of Soul Energy was influenced by Green Caterpillar’s latent bloodline inheritance, creating the illusion of its ultimate evolved form.
Once immersed in that state, an ordinary Soul Pet would naturally find it hard to snap out of it.
But Green Caterpillar grew angry because it didn’t want to become an Empty God Dragon.
Back in the Spiritual Dream Realm of the Empty God Dragon, when it tried to let Green Caterpillar experience what it would be like to evolve into an Empty God Dragon, Green Caterpillar disrupted it itself, dreaming of becoming a different kind of Giant Dragon instead.