CHAPTER 577: CHAPTER 259: ZHI BONE DEMON SNAIL, BODY FORGING BREAKTHROUGH

Ronan shifted his attention back to the black strange snail in front of him.

He finally walked up to the strange snail, its size being dozens of times larger than him, with the black shell standing like a high wall before him.

The shell’s surface had uneven spiraling patterns scattered with specks of light. Ronan gently placed his hand on it, feeling the cold and slick texture.

It seemed something inside the snail was sleeping, as heavy breathing echoed every few seconds.

The ghostly skirmishing outside didn’t seem to disturb it, as it slumbered so peacefully.

Ronan slowly traced the patterns on the shell, his expression focused, like a child reaching out to touch an ancient wall filled with infinite mysteries.

At a certain moment, he withdrew his hand.

In the lake of his heart, ice and magma surged up from the depths, distinctly dividing, then intertwining into a chaotic vortex.

In his mind, ten spiritual power crystals quivered, like ten invisible scorching suns silently radiating endless light.....

Ronan once again entered the [Empty Spirit Extreme Thought] state.

This time, he was more composed, with the intensity of his spiritual power multiplying geometrically in this indescribable state.

Crossing the dawn, a sense of dominion returned, leaving Ronan’s face calm as he pointed the tip of his right index finger toward his brow.

"Buzz——"

With this action, a rich brass light emerged from Ronan’s forehead, then gently rippled outwards, forming heavy brass-colored waves that spread fiercely in every direction...

Layer upon layer of brass-colored waves passed through the black crystalline snail shell in front of Ronan, penetrating it without obstruction....

At this moment, time seemed to stand still.

The rhythmic breathing inside the shell, the flowing white light on the cave walls, and even the ghostly heads being slaughtered by Ahaxia... everything in the vast cavity seemed to pause as countless ghostly heads turned their gaze, staring blankly at Ronan.

Then, in the next second, all the ghostly heads wore expressions of extreme terror.

As if something utterly disastrous was about to happen!

"Hiss——"

As Ronan unleashed [Spiritual Moya Brass Head] to launch a spiritual attack on the dormant entity within the shell, he felt all the air currents around him rush toward a certain point at the shell’s base, and the white fleshy tubes on the surrounding cave walls swelled up...

In an indescribably oppressive atmosphere reaching its peak, Ronan blinked.

He raised a hand, diamond-like brilliance bursting from between his fingers, forming a heart-shaped structure with numerous facets that enveloped him entirely.

——[Spiritual Moya’s Diamond Heart]!

Having just completed this, the oppressive atmosphere in the air suddenly shattered.

"Ah!!!!"

Following that, an indescribably terrifying scream erupted from within the shell.

The scream was so furious and fierce that even though Ronan thought he was fully prepared, his [Diamond Heart] defense shattered on first contact.

Ronan only felt a "buzz" in his head, as though someone had slammed a hammer right into his forehead, causing the ten spiritual power crystals in his consciousness space to instantly dim, and blood to flow quickly from his seven apertures....

"Ah ah ah!!!"

In the mountain-shaking, sea-rupturing scream, the vast cavern seemed like tattered fabric blown by a fierce wind as layers of visible transparent wrinkles appeared in the air.

Including Ahaxia, countless ghostly entities wandering in the cave exploded under this terrifying sound wave.

The ground shook violently as Ronan struggled to retain consciousness amidst crippling nausea and pain, like he might faint at any second. He mustered the strength to toss the square-cornered cow bell towards Ahaxia, which was reverting to its black smoke form and dissipating.

Then, he turned shakily, eyes wide, staring intently at the snail shell before him, with greed and urgency in his gaze.

The enigma of the ordinary Ghost Cry Fish’s parasitic strange snail was enough to captivate him, so what profound mysteries lay within this ancient pinnacle strange snail before him?

Ronan strained to open his eyes wider, seeing countless lights emerge on the pure black, enormous snail shell, intertwining and writhing together.

The lights reflected into the lake of his mind, where the spiral patterns he had previously sketched quickly grew again, becoming more intricate and complex...

This pattern was like a dark, unpredictable starry sky, and also reminiscent of a winding, ancient labyrinth.

Ronan had no time to translate it, relying only on instinct to frantically memorize.

The piercing noise in his ears grew increasingly intense, and the white flesh tubes coiled around the cave walls exploded one after another. The white mucus that was blasted out couldn’t even spread before it was shattered into countless scattered bits by the sound waves.

"Crack—"

Ronan maintained a forward-bending posture, his figure stretching bit by bit. His chestnut short hair grew rapidly, accompanied by the black and blue ice frost billowing like dark blue banners flying straight behind him.

His face was contorted with grimace, and the snake scale-like patterns on his body had not fully emerged before they were covered by numerous bursting wounds.

"Boom!"

In the state of [Ancient Ice], an even more formidable power surged from within him.

"Crack—"

Ronan’s figure expanded another circle, countless lightning-shaped white lights darted out from under his skin. The originally dark blue flying long hair gradually faded inch by inch from the roots to a bright white, while ink-black symbols rapidly grew from between his hands, spreading to all parts of his body.

"Roar—"

Ronan’s blood-red eyes widened, and on his heart, a rune in the shape of a "Holy Tree" swiftly flickered.

With the complete activation of the Ancient Frost Multi-Headed Snake Bloodline and the dual enhancements of complete giant demonization and intermediate [Ancient Power], he finally managed to barely withstand the terrifying sound wave impact coming towards him, raising himself bit by bit amidst the crashing waves of sound.

"Huff—Huff—"

Ronan panted heavily, bearing the horrific pressure, moving step by step towards the shrieking strange snail, wanting to see it more clearly.

The black glowing shell had now turned almost completely transparent, resembling the texture of crystal, with countless lights rapidly interweaving and merging within this semi-transparent crystal.

Ronan’s pupils dilated, and the maze-like pattern in his heart grew increasingly complete, more mysterious and complex.

Driven by instinct, he slowly approached the strange snail, reaching out towards the enormous crystal wall before him.

When his fingers finally touched the surface of the crystal shell, some blurry fragmented ancient images abruptly flooded his mind.

In a daze, Ronan seemed to see a bizarre world completely covered by ocean, with no land.

The center of this world was a gigantic, unfathomable black vortex, into which the surging sea waters plunged, flowing to unknown places.

And within this vortex, countless strange creatures bore black bone spur shells, carrying numerous ghostly resentful spirits, desperately climbing towards the mouth of the vortex, raising their heads to emit an earth-shattering terrifying shriek...

"Zhi Bone... Demon Snail..."

Ronan stared dazedly, muttering out loud.

At this moment, the skill panel on his character attributes showed that the last proficiency point behind [Ascetic Body Refinement], reaching the master level threshold of 1500 points, had quietly been filled.

It seemed that a certain layer of restraint within his body had been broken as well.

"Crack—"

Ronan heard a sound like something shattering within his chest cavity.

The next second.

"Boom!"

His over-two-meter-tall, robust ancient giant demon body suddenly exploded, and large waves of thick, ink-black rune lights burst forth from under his skin...

....

"Rumble!"

On the tranquil sea surface, a huge water column suddenly burst up, rushing furiously like an enraged dragon into the sky.

Chuck shivered and abruptly crawled up from the airship deck, but before he could figure out what was happening, he saw a massive dark shadow quickly approaching him, blocking the moonlight overhead.

The dense smell of blood blew towards him with the sea wind, like wildly growing black tendrils, or as though some forbidden creature was continuously writhing within the shadow, a hoarse, dark voice emerged.

"Go."

Chuck was dazedly engulfed by a powerful force, and with the magic airship underneath him, quickly turned course, flying back to the way they came.

In a trance, he turned his head, only to see behind him, over the sea area where the water column soared into the sky, a colossal strange fish corpse was slowly rising from underwater.....