Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 795 "Okitajima" Departure!
"Oh, is it so?"

"Okitajima" wasn't annoyed by this. He tilted his head and looked at Hu Ming with an extremely irritating expression and tone.

Just as humans view ants performing a funny stage play, "Okitajima" clearly places himself above Hu Ming, treating Hu Ming with the attitude of a higher being looking down on a lower being.

Hu Ming wasn't annoyed either; after all, what decent person would get upset about "food"?
Both Hu Ming and this peculiar creature viewed each other as resources and harbored ill intentions towards each other. Similarly, they both acted decisively!
Like the tentacle monster, "Okitajima" suddenly expanded from the bottom of his clothes, and a full eight jet-black tentacles, overflowing with black and crimson mist, bared their fangs and claws, blocking all directions and attacking Hu Ming.

Similarly, Hu Ming's face was beaming with a bright smile, and the faint sounds of dragons and phoenixes emanated from his body. His treasured sword appeared out of thin air in his hand. He stepped forward, tearing through the air, and the cold, lightning-like blade light slashed towards "Okitajima's" neck.

The true intentions were revealed at the last minute, and that was all. There was no possibility of friendly communication between the two sides. After exchanging greetings, it would be common for them to turn against each other.

The black tentacles, shrouded in mist, carried a terrifying spiritual aura, but unfortunately, they were still unable to achieve anything against Hu Ming's bloodline.

Similarly, a mist representing a rich and mysterious aura wafted around Hu Ming, and bursts of hissing sounds, typical of snakes, rang out.

Several enormous Pure Vision Agamas materialized out of thin air, roaring as they charged toward the black tentacles that were attacking them, intending to crush these "gods" who dared to offend them into mincemeat and swallow them whole!
In an instant, this small space seemed to turn back time, returning to the ancient and barbaric era.

Ignoring the battle behind him, Hu Ming swung his precious sword forward relentlessly towards "Okitajima"!
"Okitajima" stared in astonishment at the Jōken Agon fighting with the black tentacles, having no idea how these snakes had come to be.

Its simple thinking, and the mental data left to it by Okitajima, could not explain this bizarre scene.

However, the existence of "Okitajima" was already strange enough, so when it encountered an equally strange being, it was not surprised at all, but rather delighted.

Its gaze toward Hu Ming grew increasingly satisfied and greedy.

If you miss out on such a rare and excellent body, which is a once-in-a-millennium opportunity, you will definitely regret it for the rest of your life!
"I will be very gentle with you, I will never hurt my body in the slightest, this is my most precious treasure!"

Okitajima's gaze turned fanatical, and a jet-black tentacle emerged from the back of his tailbone, grabbing a pillar dozens of meters behind him and pulling his body away at lightning speed.

It has come to regard Hu Ming's body as its private property.

At the same time, the ground in front of it began to undulate, and countless fine ghost claw vines broke through the soil, weaving a shield in front of it, while abundant ghost claw vines surrounded it from all directions.

Okitajima is not skilled in combat, but with centuries of experience, it is exceptionally adept at using its advantages to crush any prey.

In its view, if it hadn't been unwilling to harm its future body, Hu Ming would have already been dropped into the air and soaked in digestive juices to become nutrients when it arrived.

scoff~~~
Hu Ming scoffed at this, but lost interest in continuing the conversation. When faced with a person who is delusional, no living being can use words to strike down a fool who is immersed in his own fantasy world.

Only pain and bloodshed can awaken this idiot and make him realize just how cruel the world is.

The precious sword charged forward relentlessly, easily slicing through the layers of the ghost claw vines that blocked its path, which were as fragile as paper.

However, over the centuries, "Okitajima" has spread its tentacles throughout this area, which spans hundreds of meters or even kilometers. If you fight it in such a place, you can get as many of these ordinary ghost claw vines as you want!
The surrounding land undulated like ocean waves, and countless ghostly claw vines covered the sky, turning the area into a cage.

While retreating, Okitajima was also constantly creating battlefields that were advantageous to him.

From here on, everything in sight is the tentacles of "Okitajima".

"Oh my god, that's so scary! I'm almost crying!"

Hu Ming swung his sword, severing the surrounding ghost claw vines. He glanced at the black tentacles still entangled behind him and the Pure Vision Aghan, a strangely unpleasant smirk appearing on his lips.

"You know, not long after I came down, I discovered that you had spread your tentacles all over the surrounding area. I also know that this is your absolute home ground."

“I am well aware that even if I am strong, at least a level stronger than you, in your home field, under the boundless waves of ghost claws, no matter how strong I am, I will eventually be exhausted.”

"But I ask you, since I know all this, and I know I'm at a huge disadvantage here, why did I still rashly come to find you?"

As Hu Ming continuously severed the ghostly claws that were compressing the space around him, a strange smile appeared on his lips.

With a sense sharper than a wild beast's, "Okitajima's" heart skipped a beat, as if he sensed an imminent, terrifying danger.

The source of the danger is precisely this prey with its sinister grin!
It was as if Hu Ming was holding its heart tightly in his hand. If Hu Ming wanted to, he could easily kill it with a little effort!
This sensory experience is absolutely awful!
Any intelligent being would be filled with fear in the face of such a terrible feeling.

Survival is an instinct for intelligent beings.

Whether it was a misperception or not, "Okitajima" vaguely sensed that a mysterious power was slowly awakening within his body.

"It seems you've already realized something. But it's too late."

"The first time we met, my golden eyes sensed a certain power and fragment of will lurking within Okitajima..."

"I once fought against a terrible enemy for decades, and thanks to that rare experience, I've always been good at using my brain... although I don't want to admit I'm a cunning old fox."

"In short, I had a plan at the time. When I contacted Okitajima, I left a small contingency plan with him, which was also an experiment."

"What I didn't expect was that the fish I accidentally dropped would catch such a big, unexpected fish like you. It seems I've always had good luck."

As he spoke, Hu Ming produced a simple pebble about the size of a fist in his hand. Upon closer inspection, there was a tiny chip at one end of the pebble.

The gap is very, very small, only the size of a grain of rice.

Looking at this thing, Okitajima's sense of crisis suddenly surged to its peak.

Clearly, the source of its crisis is this inconspicuous little pebble in front of it!
Sure enough, the stone seemed to be drawn by some force, bouncing back and forth in Jiangnan's palm.

Hu Ming smiled slightly and spread his five fingers to loosen the restraint on the stone.

The stone slowly rose into the air, floating quietly in place. The next moment, as if responding to an invitation from the heavens, it flew towards "Okita Island" like lightning!
"What the hell is this thing???"

Okitajima's face instantly turned ugly. Instinct told him that this inconspicuous little thing could definitely pose a fatal threat to him!
The ground was churning, and the claw-like tendrils surged in like waves, surrounding the pebbles and quickly encasing them in a giant dumpling, confining them to their spot.

However, instead of the joy of surviving a disaster, Okitajima's face showed even greater fear!
This little thing is definitely a ghostly entity even more sinister than its true nature!
boom!
Suddenly, the air seemed to tremble, and a muffled thunderclap, like a heartbeat, came from the void. The source of the sound was the pebble surrounded by vines!
"Okitajima" screamed in agony, clutching his forearm. There was a foreign object stirring in the wound on his forearm, the stitches were cracking, and the torn skin was violently ripped open from the inside.

Upon closer inspection, within the flesh and blood, there was a piece of fragment, about the size of a sesame seed, whose color was very similar to that of the pebble, entangled within the flesh and blood!
This little thing seemed incredibly strange; encased in flesh and blood, yet completely devoid of any color, as if some mysterious force was helping it maintain its original hue. Bang!
A heart pounded like thunder again, and the tiny sesame seed trembled slightly, making a new movement.

Like water and water merging, tiny sesame seed fragments, in the horrified gaze of "Okitajima," instantly dissolved into its flesh and blood, leaving no trace. "Okitajima," who wanted to dig out this piece of flesh, found nothing.

The next moment, a small bump appeared on Okitajima's arm. What was worse, this bump was rapidly crawling up his arm toward Okitajima's body.

"Damn it!"

Okitajima's expression hardened. He didn't know what this thing was, but he knew it was extremely dangerous!
The clothes on his shoulders tore apart layer by layer, and several ghostly claw-like tendrils grew from the flesh and entangled his arm. "Okitajima" gritted his teeth and used the tendrils to tear his entire arm apart at the shoulder!
But
"It's no use. How could this thing be solved so easily? After spending so many days in Okitajima's flesh and blood, it has already recognized the taste of Okitajima's blood."

Seeing this, Hu Ming smiled slightly, took out a cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, and calmly watched the changes at "Okitajima".

From the jagged, broken arm wound, a tiny fragment, no bigger than a sesame seed, slowly floated up. In "Okitajima's" horrified gaze, the fragment transformed into a blur, hurtling straight toward his heart with a speed he couldn't react to!
The thin clothing was no match for this strange substance, and the ghostly claws spreading across the body couldn't keep up with the speed of the debris.

puff.

Okitajima felt a slight pain in his chest, and the fragments disappeared, leaving only a tiny, barely visible red dot on his chest. Not even a few drops of blood flowed out.

Okitajima's face turned ashen, and he stood frozen in place.

It sensed it; a tiny foreign object had suddenly appeared inside its heart!
It is not human, and the heart is not a fatal organ for it. In fact, if necessary, it could completely discard this body after a period of preparation.

But the debris didn't give him that time at all.

The moment the debris entered the heart, it suddenly unleashed a terrifying force of absorption, as if a high-powered water pump was frantically sucking it up.

However, what was extracted from the fragments was not blood, but something more metaphysical, yes.
"That little thing is devouring my life force!!!"

"Okitajima" sensed something, his heart sank, and he roared.

Although, compared to its immense vitality accumulated over thousands of years, this amount of devouring power is less than its daily consumption, let alone its own replenishment.

But the real crisis isn't this little thing!
This little thing is at most just a coordinate, a locator, a beacon, a beacon to guide you to real crisis!
Sure enough, as if it had received some kind of support, the pebble, which had been rolled into a ball by the ghost claw vines, seemed to have gained ample energy, and its muffled, thunderous heartbeat became more frequent and louder.

The ghost claw vines, which were filled with pebbles, suddenly stopped wriggling and stiffened. Before anyone knew it, a faint, deathly gray color had spread all over the vines.

The next moment, there was a slight tremor, and a terrifying scene unfolded.

The sturdy yet flexible vines, with this slight tremor, turned into a handful of fine ashes and scattered away!
The pebbles encased within turned a deep red, not from the high temperature, but from a subtle, alluring fragrance.

It is not a fragrance that can be described in any words; it is completely different from the aroma of food, flowers, or even body odor.

It was a fragrance that made you feel a deep-seated longing, desire, and greed!
"This is the fragrance of life...this is the essence of life, a treasure that can make up for the lack of human lifespan, it is no exaggeration to call it a heavenly elixir."

Although he had expected it, Hu Ming's eyes still lit up with surprise when he smelled the fragrance.

"The fragrance of life?"

"Okitajima" stared in disbelief at the crimson pebble floating in mid-air, slowly approaching him. His ominous premonition had come true; this thing was far too dangerous!
"Yes, you see me as the ideal body, but in my eyes, aren't you also the provisions I prepare for others?"

"You should know that nowadays, there are very few long-lived beings like you. Every one of them is a rare treasure to me."

"Judging from its feedback to me, draining you dry is equivalent to the life force that the First Emperor secretly collected from the killings on several major battlefields in history."

"You have to understand that's the life force of millions of people... Of course, ordinary people don't have your life force level. The collected life force is extremely impure, and after purification, only one in ten remains. But this shows that your life force is indeed astonishingly large."

Based on feedback from the pebbles—no, from the primordial mother stone obtained from Lei—a rough estimate suggests that if this nine-headed cypress could be drained, its immense and pure life force would be enough to provide a person with at least three thousand years of lifespan!
This is already terrible.

Before the words were finished, the mother stone that was floating in mid-air disappeared from its original spot, turning into a crimson shadow that seemed to have crossed space and suddenly appeared at the heart of "Okitajima".

"No!!!"

"Okitajima" couldn't stop them at all, a desperate roar.

It sensed that this ghostly thing's target was not its current body, but rather, following a mysterious connection, it was using an incomprehensible and bizarre method to extract the immense life force of its hidden entity—the Nine-Headed Hydra Cypress!
The cobblestone, now a deep crimson, was firmly embedded in the heart of "Okitajima," creating a mysterious resonance with the small fragment within it.

Like a red-hot iron, from a great distance, Hu Ming could almost hear the sound of the grill sizzling and smell the odor of the protein spoiling.

This pebble actually managed to squeeze right through the flesh and blood of "Okitajima"!
The physical pain and torment were secondary; what was most terrifying for "Okitajima" was that, as it penetrated deeper into his body, the devouring power of this monster was increasing exponentially!
"I will come back to find you!"

Okitajima glared venomously at the nonchalant Hu Ming. The ground beneath her feet began to churn, and ghost claw vines, accompanied by crimson mist, burst forth from the earth, enveloping Hu Ming in a large cocoon, which slowly sank into the ground.

"Okitajima" understood the priorities. The most urgent task was to find a way to get rid of this damned thing in his heart, rather than getting angry with Hu Ming here.

Fearing that Hu Ming would intervene to stop his departure, the several special, jet-black tentacles went berserk, abandoning the Jingjian Ahan they were entangled with, leaving Jingjian Ahan with shocking wounds on the tentacles, and determined to coil around Hu Ming.

These jet-black tentacles are extremely special to "Okitajima". Over the past thousand years, under the influence of some mysterious force, only these eight have evolved.

But in such a critical moment, "Okitajima" knew how to make choices, and compared with the most fundamental thing, life, these things were somewhat insignificant.

"Walk slowly, don't send."

"Believe me, we'll meet again. After all, once the fruit is ripe, I'll still have to play the role of the farmer and harvest it!"

Hu Ming greeted the crimson cocoon that was slowly sinking into the ground with a smile.

After "Okitajima" left, the space suddenly became quiet.

Even shortly after it left, the white mist that permeated this space faded away at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In less than fifteen minutes, the view was clear, and the fog no longer obstructed the view.