Cheat God
28. The Beast Beneath

The battlefield was quiet now. Broken terrain, fallen warriors, and the still corpse of the guardian beast lay in chaotic stillness beneath the golden fog. Liu Chen stood calmly, breathing in the fading energy of combat, eyes gleaming faintly with satisfaction.

Without wasting time, he walked to the dragon-serpent’s massive corpse.

The closer he approached, the more his golden soul stirred. The beast’s entire body was soaked in heavenly aura, denser than any natural spirit beast he’d seen before. Its long scales shimmered faintly with reddish-black veins, and a warm pulse of power lingered within its flesh.

Liu Chen pressed a palm against the hide. “Full of treasures…”

Bones, marrow, blood, skin—everything had been refined by years of cursed and heavenly energies. To alchemists, this was a fortune. To body cultivators, it was priceless.

With a wave of his hand, his spatial ring opened wide, and with practiced ease, the entire corpse vanished into his storage.

“Letting this rot here would be the real crime.”

Then he turned toward the scattered bodies of the fallen cultivators. Young warriors from various clans, some with broken limbs, others already cold. He didn’t sigh. He didn’t pause.

With clinical focus, he stepped from one to the next, extracting only the items gathered inside the Land of Bliss. Heavenly crystals, aura-infused herbs, and a few unusual materials he recognized as rare land-bound resources.

He ignored personal storage rings, weapons, or anything that bore a clan sigil or unique inscription.

“Taking unnecessary things will just bring me trouble,” he murmured to himself, plucking a silver herb wrapped in heavenly mist from a dead girl’s pouch. “If even one of these items gets traced back, their sects will howl like dying pigs.”

It was well known that what happened in the Land of Bliss stayed inside. But rules meant little to grief-blinded elders and ambitious sect leaders. If someone powerful enough decided to use his ‘looting’ as a reason to make a move on the Liu Clan, it might turn ugly—even if the truth was on his side.

“No need to court disaster,” he said, storing a bundle of heavenly moss and moving to the next corpse. All in all, he gathered twenty-three heavenly crystals

It was a poor haul by his standards. In his mind, this was barely a decent morning stroll. But unknown to him, most cultivators only found two or three heavenly crystals during an entire expedition. The Land of Bliss was vast—but without a golden soul like his, most people wandered blind through fog and curses, never knowing where to look.

Satisfied, Liu Chen turned toward the pond. The Blood Spirit Nirvana Lotus still floated there—undisturbed, glowing faintly with rich red-gold light.

He stepped closer and paused at the edge, where cursed water still shimmered. He didn’t touch it directly. Instead, he extended his spiritual energy, weaving a thin thread toward the lotus.

It responded immediately—shaking softly, as if alive.With a flick of his hand, Liu Chen lifted it gently out of the pond, letting droplets of black tainted water slide off its stem. The closer it came, the more he felt it—his blood boiled, pulsing faster, hotter, like fire warming his very bones.

“So this is why they call it Nirvana…”

The lotus was the perfect bloodline and body-refining treasure. Even for him, someone with the God and Demon Leader Body, this thing was precious. It would strengthen his marrow, fortify his blood force, and increase the potential of future breakthroughs.

He took a small breath of its scent and shuddered slightly.

“Too fierce… even the smell can wake up dormant qi in my limbs.”

With care, he placed the lotus into a specialized medical jade box designed to isolate aura fluctuations, then stored it deep within his ring.

Liu Chen stood still at the pond’s edge, eyes calm.

The golden soul was quiet now, but the Ghost Eye beneath his brow stirred faintly.

A strange sensation swept through him—not danger, but a heavy pressure… like something ancient was watching from below.

He narrowed his eyes.

“Not a treasure,” he murmured, stepping back slowly. “But something’s definitely buried here.”

His Ghost Eye pulsed again. A shadow lay beneath the lotus pond, deep underground. Its shape wasn’t clear—but it was massive. Too massive for a spirit beast’s core or a buried herb bed.

He crossed his arms, silent for a moment.

A part of him wanted to dig gently, investigate like a scholar. But that wasn’t his style.

He glanced down at his hands, golden light starting to pulse beneath the skin. In response, black veins emerged—spreading up his arms like markings from a forgotten scripture. The power of the God and Demon Leader Body awakened quietly, but with intensity.

His cloak rustled as he raised a fist.

Then, without hesitation—

Boom!

He punched the ground directly in front of the pond.

The land cracked with a thunderous roar. The soil split, rocks shattered, and a hole over a hundred feet wide opened in an instant. Dust rose like a cloud, golden light rippling through it. He waved his hand. Wind qi swept the dust aside. From within the chasm, something heavy began to shift.

Then—a claw. Black and heavy like metal. It emerged from the earth, followed by the dull shimmer of ancient scales, faded horns, and bones thicker than tree trunks.

A corpse began to rise, slowly pulled by Liu Chen’s energy. He used his qi to shift the soil aside, his golden veins glowing with force.

Within moments, the full body was exposed. Liu Chen’s eyes narrowed. Even in death, this beast gave off a terrifying pressure.

It was enormous, nearly thirty meters long, with a wide body like a rhinoceros but with dragon-like claws and a brutal, horned face. Its jaws had thick, blunt fangs, and its massive back was covered in ancient scale-plates, many shattered but still sharp.

Its appearance was like a mixture of a dinosaur, a dragon, and a nightmare.

And more than anything, it radiated hunger—even dead.

“This…” Liu Chen stepped closer and muttered, “...Taotie.”