Lu Wuming was quite astute when it came to sensing danger. Thus, there was no need for Liu Buli to explain anything; the moment they landed, he had already pulled Liu Buli away from their original spot at top speed.
The two of them put distance between themselves and the monster, allowing them to get a good look at what it was.
However, upon seeing it, Lu Wuming couldn't help but frown.
He genuinely couldn't describe what kind of monster it was.
Unlike the monsters they had encountered before, this one seemed less like a living creature and more like a fleshy mass of jumbled tentacles and eyes.
Its entire body was covered in countless eyeballs, of varying sizes and shapes. As the two of them appeared, all the eyeballs swiveled, their gaze uniformly fixed upon them.
Besides the eyes, the monster was mostly composed of an uncountable number of tentacles. They resembled octopus legs, complete with suckers, and atop the suckers was a foul-smelling green slime.
Liu Buli didn't yet know how much damage the liquid itself could inflict. However, he could feel that the immense malice and death aura emanating from the monster alone were enough to make his scalp tingle and his whole body feel profoundly uncomfortable.
He reached out and tugged at Lu Wuming's sleeve. Even without speaking, Lu Wuming understood his intention.
Yet, the foolish disciple did not heed Liu Buli's suggestion this time. Instead, he pulled at the corners of his mouth, forcing a smile, and said, "Master, I want to try dealing with this monster myself. If I truly can't defeat it, I'll find a way to escape. But please, at least give me a chance to face it alone, can you?"
Hearing his request, Liu Buli couldn't help but frown.
His intention in pulling Lu Wuming's sleeve was very clear.
It was to make the other party abandon the unrealistic idea of fighting alone and, as they had agreed, go directly to find Shen Muzhi so they could deal with it together.
But looking at Lu Wuming now, it was evident he had no intention of complying.
The monster hadn't attacked them yet. Liu Buli furrowed his brows, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Wuming, I think..."
"Master, let me try. I know what I'm doing," Lu Wuming interrupted, licking his lips. His eyes were filled with a bloodlust and savagery that was barely contained.
Perhaps it was the monster's aura that ignited his innate instincts as a ghost clan member, or perhaps the surging emotions from before had not fully subsided. In any case, as Lu Wuming looked at the monster, he found he had no trace of the expected nervousness. On the contrary, he felt an indescribable excitement. It was as if the monster could somehow smooth over the uncontrollable emotions within him, making him feel a sense of yearning and pleasure.
Even so, Lu Wuming's instincts were still tied to Liu Buli. So, after a moment of silence, he still remembered to add, "Master, didn't I tell you I was feeling suffocated? This is an opportunity for me to vent it all. I don't want to force you, so if I can force this monster instead, you can't refuse, right?"
Liu Buli opened his mouth.
He truly wanted to refuse.
But he could also see the clear, intense redness in Lu Wuming's eyes. This was the look he had when he was most excited.
He couldn't wait to find Shen Muzhi.
It was like a traveler who had wandered in the desert for too long and finally saw an oasis. Asking him to give up that oasis would be more agonizing than killing him outright.
Since that was the case, refusing seemed pointless.
Liu Buli clenched his fist, thought for a moment, and finally gritted his teeth, saying, "I'll go with you. The two of us will have a better chance."
Lu Wuming smiled and nodded.
He liked his Master being like this.
Their eyes met, and without further words, they simultaneously launched their attacks towards the monster.
The monster, after this brief respite, had clearly realized its predicament. Its surrounding tentacles simultaneously rose, and the viscous liquid poured down. The pungent smell made Liu Buli feel an indescribable nausea. Even so, he gripped his long sword and fiercely slashed towards the monster.
As he didn't know the monster's weak point, Liu Buli could only attack the closest tentacle when he initiated his strike.
Just as he had predicted, the sword Lu Wuming had given him was indeed exceptionally good.
Perhaps it was due to his high compatibility with the sword, but when his spiritual energy flowed into the long sword, the sword seemed to perform even better than he had anticipated.
In short, with that one strike, the monster's largest tentacle closest to him was directly severed. Foul-smelling liquid splattered out, and Liu Buli immediately raised a barrier of spiritual energy, managing to block the monster's slime.
However, the monster was not finished.
From a mouth hidden somewhere, it let out a sharp cry and wail. Even though he had prepared himself mentally, the immense sound still caused Liu Buli to feel dizzy.
It was at this critical moment that Lu Wuming's ghost claws swept through, preventing the monster's next attacking tentacle from causing much harm to Liu Buli.
Liu Buli paused for a moment, while Lu Wuming's eyes widened. He called out to Liu Buli with some nervousness, "Master! Snap out of it! Don't let that monster's slime touch you, you'll feel very uncomfortable!"
It wasn't that he was worried about Liu Buli getting hurt, as Lu Wuming was well aware of Liu Buli's own strength.
He was simply worried about his clean-loving Master touching the slime, an aura that even he himself disliked. Lu Wuming couldn't even imagine the psychological damage it would cause Liu Buli.
His mouth twitched. Liu Buli himself hadn't expected such a reminder. He coughed lightly, parried another attack from the monster with his sword, and said, "Don't worry, your Master isn't that fragile. You, on the other hand, be more careful and don't be too reckless, understand?"
The fact that they were both worried about each other made Lu Wuming feel very happy.
Having also dealt with the tentacle that lunged at him, Lu Wuming suddenly asked with curiosity, "By the way, Master, didn't you say you remembered this secret realm very clearly? How did Shen Muzhi defeat this monster in this secret realm?"
Lu Wuming had actually come to terms with the fact that Shen Muzhi was the protagonist of this world. He knew that the novel recorded everything they were experiencing now, and he knew that in that novel, Shen Muzhi was almost invincible.
He used to be foolishly concerned about such things, but now that he had accepted this premise, he had learned to use it to achieve what he wanted.
Just like now.
If Liu Buli could directly tell him how the monster died in the novel, then attacking its weak point accordingly would indeed be much more convenient than attacking randomly as they were now.
However, he never expected that upon hearing his question, Liu Buli's expression would instantly become somewhat strange.
After a moment of silence, he finally met Lu Wuming's confused gaze and said in an awkward tone, word by word, "The protagonist never found its weak point, so he chopped it into pieces, and that's how it was resolved."