Chapter 698: Attention

"Found it." Meng Chuan, standing on the water, felt a surge of joy.

The most crucial step in killing a forbidden creature of the Sixth Tribulation realm is finding its core!

The core can be anything: a boat, a flag, a wine glass, a drop of blood, a grain of sand, a blade of grass, a corpse, a mountain, a star, a secret treasure... Literally anything can be a forbidden creature's core, and it can also disguise itself, appearing unremarkable on the surface.

This makes defeating a forbidden creature easy, but completely killing it is incredibly difficult.

Meng Chuan deliberately appeared weak, fearing he might scare the forbidden creature. If he revealed his "peak Sixth Tribulation realm" power and destroyed its true form, the creature would be terrified and hide within its core, never daring to manifest a true form again. How would Meng Chuan find the core then, in the vast Chaotic Murky River?

"The core is ordinary; only when it forms a new true body does it emit power fluctuations."

"Furthermore, the true body it forms will not be too far from the core."

Meng Chuan's three primordial spirit avatars secretly encircled the area, each meticulously sensing through spatial rules.

The moment the shadowy figure used its core to reform its true body—

The core's fluctuations revealed its location.

"There it is."

Meng Chuan discovered it: deep within the river, twelve million li away, a mass of water was hidden in the Chaotic Murky River, appearing to be just a part of it. But when the shadowy figure manifested, it was exposed.

"Kill."

Meng Chuan's figure vanished into thin air, reappearing instantly near the hidden mass of water. Absolute space repelled all surrounding water, trapping only a fist-sized cluster.

A face immediately emerged on the fist-sized water cluster, its mouth opening as if to beg for mercy: "No..."

"Snap."

Meng Chuan watched as the absolute space instantly sliced the fist-sized water cluster into eight pieces, and the face shattered completely amidst desperate wails.

Only after being cut and shattered did the core fully reveal itself: an "orb" broken into eight crystal pieces.

"A crystal orb?" Meng Chuan extended his hand, and the core fragments, translucent pieces of the orb, flew into his palm.

"I wonder what use these core fragments have. Only Master of Mount Mo is actively acquiring them." Meng Chuan shook his head slightly. His Demon Slayer Blade could only absorb malevolent energy-type core fragments, but there were many types of core fragments, and malevolent energy was just one branch.

Meng Chuan vaguely felt that forbidden creatures represented another powerful path, superior to Tribulation realms in some aspects. For example, the cores of "Seventh Tribulation realm forbidden creatures" began to conceptualize rules, granting them survival abilities that surpassed most mighty Seventh Tribulation realm beings. They could devour everything, even entire living worlds. They lived for incredibly long periods, to the point where their consciousnesses would fully decay and dissipate, yet new consciousnesses would still be born within their cores. Their longevity, lasting until their consciousness vanished, was unimaginable.

Their survival ability, devouring capacity, and lifespan all fundamentally surpassed those of cultivators.

However, this system was clearly not easy to research; otherwise, other Eighth Tribulation realm beings would have long since acquired core fragments.

After pondering for a moment, finding nothing special about the crystal orb fragments, Meng Chuan put them away and flew towards the distant shadowy corpse.

"The true body's corpse," Meng Chuan observed.

As long as the core remained intact, the true body corpse of a Sixth Tribulation realm forbidden creature could never be obtained. It would completely vanish, only to reform when revived.

"This corpse?" Meng Chuan frowned as he looked. It was a vast patch of black algae, spanning over a thousand li, with a faint soft body beneath it, and a huge eye that had already closed.

"What a strange life form." Meng Chuan also put it away. "The first Sixth Tribulation realm forbidden creature target has been dealt with."

Meng Chuan had two methods to fulfill the karma of slaying a Sixth Tribulation realm forbidden creature.

The first was to use intelligence channels like the Eternal Tower and White Bird Pavilion to investigate which river systems had Sixth Tribulation realm forbidden creatures. Given the vastness of the River of Spacetime, there were indeed some. Those forbidden creatures were naturally born in the outer void and were generally weaker than those in the Chaotic Murky River, making them easier to kill.

The drawback, however, was that even if he knew a certain river system had a Sixth Tribulation realm forbidden creature, finding it would still be difficult.

Therefore, Meng Chuan chose the second method: coming to the Chaotic Murky River!

He was strong enough and a Primordial Spirit Tribulation realm cultivator, unafraid of his primordial spirit avatars perishing in battle, so he naturally dared to venture into this dangerous place.

The Chaotic Murky River was simply too vast. Although Meng Chuan could sense an area of a billion li around him, and his three primordial spirit avatars moved independently, encountering a forbidden creature was still not easy.

Over a month later, Meng Chuan encountered a second Sixth Tribulation realm forbidden creature.

"Boom!"

After a grueling battle, Meng Chuan finally killed the true body of the forbidden creature, which resembled a blood-red flower.

"Why isn't it reviving?"

"Where is its core?" Meng Chuan felt somewhat helpless on the surface of the Chaotic Murky River. He could confirm through karma that the creature was still alive, but he couldn't pinpoint its location. "I only displayed twenty percent of my strength, struggling greatly to kill one of its true bodies. Is it so scared that it won't show itself?"

As long as it revived and formed a new true body, Meng Chuan could pinpoint its location through karma.

But if the creature completely hid within its core, karma could not pinpoint it.

"This Tribulation realm cultivator... even if I fight with all my might, it would be hard to kill him. I'd better be careful and hide for a thousand years before forming a true body again." Nine million li away from Meng Chuan, a core, disguised as a current, flowed within the Chaotic Murky River. It had not formed a new true body and emitted no fluctuations, making it undetectable by Meng Chuan.

"Even after feigning such weakness, I still scared it off." Meng Chuan felt helpless. He had to destroy one of its true bodies to force it to revive; otherwise, how could he find its core?

Eight months later, Meng Chuan encountered his fifth forbidden creature.

"Crack, crack, crack!"

An ancient wooden boat, broken into three pieces, lay before Meng Chuan.

Meng Chuan smiled as he looked at the broken wooden boat, then glanced at the eight-armed monster's corpse, which was tens of thousands of li tall, in the distance.

"I've finally successfully killed a second Sixth Tribulation realm forbidden creature," Meng Chuan mused with satisfaction. "I like Sixth Tribulation realm forbidden creatures with courage and confidence; they're truly spirited!"

Only the spirited ones would dare to reform their true bodies and continue the chase, giving him a chance to harvest.

"The core was actually a wooden boat." Meng Chuan looked at the ancient, weathered, broken wooden boat, then waved his hand to collect it, along with the true body's corpse.

"Just one more kill, and my task will be complete." Meng Chuan's mood significantly improved. Even if he were to leave the Chaotic Murky River now, hunting a Sixth Tribulation realm forbidden creature in the outer void wouldn't be too difficult.

Two and a half years later.

The forbidden creatures in the surrounding area became even more cautious. Meng Chuan suspected that some of these Sixth Tribulation realm forbidden creatures might know each other. Killing two of them had alerted some of the others, reducing the effectiveness of his "feigned weakness."

"Boom!"

As the core shattered, its true form was revealed: a weapon broken into two pieces.

"The core is a weapon?" Meng Chuan looked at the distant corpse. This forbidden creature had thirteen "blades" on its head, like a crown. A row of blades, over three hundred of them, also extended from its neck down its back to its tailbone.

"This forbidden creature was the strongest I've encountered, possessing nearly half the power of a peak Sixth Tribulation realm being." Meng Chuan had previously tried his best to act, disguising himself as a Primordial Spirit Tribulation realm cultivator skilled in the 'Eye of Darkness' and possessing an Eighth Tribulation realm formation diagram. After a grueling battle, he finally managed to kill its true body with great difficulty. This blade-creature had failed in its long-range attack and, upon reviving, sought close combat!

Clearly, it still had many unrevealed abilities and remained confident.

However, its revival allowed Meng Chuan to discover its hidden core, so he no longer bothered to waste time. He revealed his full power, teleported close, and directly split the core.

"All three forbidden creatures are dealt with." Meng Chuan was in excellent spirits.

"Now, I can leisurely explore the Chaotic Murky River and experience more of the forbidden creatures' methods." Meng Chuan felt much more relaxed.

At the same time, he sent one of his primordial spirit avatars, carrying the core and corpse of the Sixth Tribulation realm forbidden creature, to silently depart the Chaotic Murky River using a secret technique taught by the Master of Mount Mo, sending the spoils back first.

In an extremely remote area of the Chaotic Murky River, it would be difficult to find this place without profound mastery of spacetime.

"Whoosh."

In the river, an incredibly vast, blurry face formed.

This face opened its eyes, looking above the river water, as if prying into spacetime.

"What's going on? Three chaotic creatures killed in such a short time?" A hint of doubt appeared in its eyes. While forbidden creatures in the Chaotic Murky River did fight among themselves, due to the river's immense size and the creatures' strong survival abilities, it was rare for one to die more than once every century or even millennium. For three to die in just two or three years was highly abnormal.

"Let me see who killed these three chaotic creatures."

Its colossal eyes projected various scenes, and a vast number of images from the past timeline appeared.

It quickly pinpointed the scenes: Meng Chuan, in black robes with white hair, slaying the three forbidden creatures one by one.