Chapter 2902: Chapter 2902: New Body After Rebirth

“These are from severe poison,” Dorothy said after looking at the corrosion marks.

The wounds one sustained from the Other Shore carried over to the Source World. Thus, Zen sported the dark, corrosion marks on his skin. However, any objects from the Other Shore could not appear in the Source World, so there was no venom around his wounds.

Letitia was immediately relieved upon hearing Dorothy's diagnosis. “Zen is immune to poison.”

“It appears so,” Dorothy replied upon observation.

The things in the black pool were extremely poisonous. Most of the creatures from the Dark Region could barely come out alive if getting bit after being thrown into that pond.

Death came slowly with this type of poison. After being injected into the bloodstream, it would make the victim hallucinate while his body deteriorated. Pus would slowly fester on his skin, his organs, down to his very bones until he became nothing more than a flesh bag of bodily fluids. This type of death was horrible and incredibly painful.

That was from only one bite. Zen was currently being attacked by more than a hundred of these unknown things!

Fortunately, his body was immune to any type of poison and all he really had to worry about was the blood loss.

However, just the mere thought of his body being covered by many bugs sent a shiver down his spine.

An hour later, he felt the two ropes on the bronze-iron plates tighten, slowly raising him up from the black pool.

'Finally. I'm leaving this perdition now?' Zen's heart filled with joy.

He really thought it was going to be his death after the pig-faced monsters made such a huge deal of the black pond. It turned out not as bad as they said.

As soon as he left the pond, he looked down at his body.

He had already mentally prepared himself but the sight shocked him all the same.

The bugs were not a pretty sight - dark cyan, with huge abdomens like cyan gems. A fine needle protruded from each bug's head and penetrated every square inch of his body.

Despite being lifted from the pond, the bugs remained latched onto him, firmly attached to his flesh by their needles.

Zen was dragged to the top of the mountain by the octopuses and all the way to the valley, being left in front of the pig-faced monsters.

“A bumper harvest!”

“His blood must be delicious!”

“What a big harvest! And without the sacrifice of one of our kind, ha ha!”

The pig-faced monsters surrounded him and began to pull the bugs off his body.

These bugs were called Regal Jade Bugs and the octopuses fed on them occasionally. These bugs were quite difficult to fish up from the black pond.

At first, the pig-faced monsters used disguises to hide in the mountain creeks and trap a few creatures from the Dark Region. Unfortunately, their tricks had long since worn off. The creatures of the Dark Region also knew how difficult it was for the octopuses to leave the valley so they did not get close to them.

The pig-faced monsters weren't strong enough and always failed to capture the creatures of the Dark Region, so they had no choice but sacrifice their own members. Sometimes, they would throw a pig-faced monster into the black pool to catch these Regal Jade Bugs. ṚἈΝöᛒĘ𐌔

These bugs were incredibly aggressive in the black pool. However, if taken out of the pond, they would become extremely stiff and unmoving.

In no time at all, the pig-faced monsters had harvested two hundred Regal Jade Bugs from his body.

After getting these bugs, a pig-faced monster couldn't help but snort in surprise. “This human has been bit by so many Regan Jade Bugs, but it seems nothing happens to his body. Why's that?”

Another pig-faced monster waved off its concern. “Don't worry about it and just throw him out. He now has Regal Jade Poison all over his body. Just a tiny bit can hurt all of us badly.”

That pig-faced monster's words were like sweet honey to Zen's ears. Yet, he continued to keep his eyes closed and remained motionless on the ground.

If he was thrown away, he could definitely run to freedom.

Zen once again felt a tentacle roll over the bronze-iron plates, lifting him and poising to throw him out of the valley. However, before it could do so, the dark blue pig-faced monster spoke, “Wait!”

“Bang!”

Instead of the rush of freedom, Zen felt the crash of the cold, hard ground.

The dark blue pig-faced monster studied him closely, reaching out to touch his body. “This human is strange. It doesn't look as if he got poisoned.”

The Regal Jade Poison could turn a warrior into a literal skin bag of bodily fluids. However, Zen's body remained unchanged.

“Yes! You're right!” “This human boy is so strange!”

“Does that mean he's still alive?”

“Then doesn't that also mean we can use him repeatedly as bait?”

The pig-faced monsters were overjoyed upon this realization.

Sacrificing their own members was a terrible ordeal but with Zen here, they wouldn't need to do that anymore!

Zen was internally cursing that dark blue pig-faced monster. All hope of escaping was sucked out of his body, replaced with the dread of having to be thrown into the black pond all over again.

He was now a valued treasure bait for these pig-faced monsters. They would never let him go nor let him die so easily.

Having stored a lot of Darkness Fruits, the pig-faced monsters fed one to Zen regularly and even healed some of his wounds.

Since playing dead wasn't doing him any favors, Zen gave up and opened his eyes to stare at his captors helplessly.

A day later...

The octopuses left the caves, and entangled with each other to form a rope thousands of feet long. They took Zen with them and threw him right back into the pond.

He was left soaking there for more than an hour to make sure that his entire body would be covered by the Regal Jade Bugs.

He was used as bait for four straight days.

While Zen was subject to such misery, something else was beginning to take place in the dark cave of the tomb.

Flesh and blood piled up, wrapping up a cocoon completely. Gradually, a body started to form.

When its facial features began shaping, a pig face appeared, looking exactly like a pig-faced monster. This was the purified being called Teague.

However, as soon as the pig face formed, it immediately crumbled and morphed into the face of a human girl.

She had a gentle and charming appearance, especially with her eyes closed in peaceful slumber.

On the fifth day, the human girl suddenly opened her eyes, confused.

'Where am I?

Who am I?'

Her heart was filled with doubt as she carefully observed her own body. It was the body of a pig-faced monster. It was big and fleshy as well as ugly. This was an appearance that she could never accept.

“Phew! Phew!”

As she thought, there were cracks on her big body, and blood spilled. The flesh was constantly peeling off. A pair of slender hands pulled out from her bloated arms.