Rise Of The Worm Sovereign

The fall of the Dao Treading realm city lord was witnessed by everyone that was around that area.

It was evident that this would be remembered by the residents of the city for a long time to come. But they would still wonder how this had happened or what was behind this.

After all, once the city lord fell out of the sky, he disappeared into the ground, nowhere to be seen.

In reality though, the city lord was currently being dragged through the ground and was quickly brought nearly three hundred meters deep.

The man was questioning his life and was utterly lost.

"What is happening? How the hell is this possible? Who can do this?" The man kept on asking himself.

~THUD~

"ARGH!" Finally, his descent seemed to have come to a halt as he landed hard on his back.

But upon falling he realized another thing.

"Why do I feel pain?!" The city lord had another riddle on his mind. 'I'm at the Embryo Growth Stage of the Dao Treading realm, I shouldn't feel pain from something this little with my strength—' but as soon as he thought about his strength he realized something.

"My cultivation… my qi… why is it suppressed?!" The man was now scared.

~tremble~

Just as he was about to cry though, he felt the floor beneath him tremble. It as dark inside and the man couldn't see due to his spirit sense being suppressed as well. It only made him a lot more nervous and he started to shiver.

"W-who… Who's there!?" The man questioned while looking around frantically.

~shua~

Then a few seconds later, he saw a two glowing red orbs appearing in front of him. The orbs were larger than his entire body and seemed to contain a hidden might.

"What in the…" Before the man could even begin to comprehend it, he saw a stream of green light traveling from the ground and reaching all the way to the two red orbs.

~gulp~

A few moments later, the man swallowed his saliva in fear as the body of Lin Wu came in full display. His two crimson red eyes gazed into the city lords own, making him feel like a little rabbit.

"W-ho… no… W-what… What are you?" The city lord asked while stuttering.

He could not believe his eyes and was hoping that he was just hallucinating.

'A creature this big… this strong… how can there be one?' The man had already started to pray to his ancestors.

"Not so loud now, are we?" Lin Wu chuckled as he continued to gaze at the city lord, obtaining bits and pieces of information from this alone

The first thing Lin Wu discovered was the fact that the city lord seemed to have an unstable foundation. It was something that he would usually see in those cultivators who over relied on alchemical pills to boost their cultivation base.

The city lord had gone silent and couldn't bring himself to say anything. The sheer size of Lin Wu combined with his aura was like a mountain that weighed on his head.

It made him unable to speak, thus Lin Wu could only question the man first.

"Well then, this is how it will go." Lin Wu began to order. "I'll ask, you answer and if you don't, you get eaten." He stated.

The city lord heard his words but did not respond even now.

"Do you understand?" Lin Wu asked again, but the man did not move.

~SLAP~

Next time though, Lin Wu used wind qi to form a hand and slap the man tightly across his face.

"I asked, do you understand!?" Lin Wu said sternly this time.

"I DO! I DO! I UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING!" The city lord broke out of his stupor.

"Good… now tell me what place is this first." Lin Wu questioned.

"This is Third Yun city. It is a city under the control of the tenth heir of the Hu clan and is one of the many that he controls." The city lord quickly answered.

"Hmm… Third Yun city. And who are you?" Lin Mu questioned.

"I am the city lord assigned by the Tenth heir, City Lord Kulung." He answered again.

"I see, then tell me Kulung why are there so few cultivators in the city? And why is it that you have six Dao Shell realm beasts in your residence?" Lin Wu questioned.

"That… the only cultivators that are allowed to exist in the region are those that are in the employment of the tenth heir in any capacity. Most of them are just minor guards or captains.

As for the beasts, the are the sacrifice I've prepared for my master." City Lord Kulung stated.

"Sacrifice? For the tenth heir?" Lin Wu asked in doubt.

"Yes! All heirs demand tributes and sacrifices from their vassals and underlings. It shall be our turn soon enough." Kulung replied.

"But that doesn't explain the lack of natural cultivators in the city. Why are there so few?" Lin Wu asked again.

"That's because… all the commoners are to pay the spirit qi they cultivate as a tribute. If they don't they will be killed." Kulung stated, making Lin Wu a little surprised.

'I didn't think there would be a way one's spirit qi could be used as a tribute…' Lin Wu was surprised.

But this also presented several questions to himself.

"And what do you do with this tribute?" Lin Wu questioned.

"All the spirit qi we obtain from the commoners is given to the six beasts that I rear. These beasts are Qi sapping ticks and consume qi as their food. They will drain it from the commoners and it will then be sent to the tenth heir as a tax." The man answered.

"And what about you? I'm sure there's more to it isn't there?" Lin Wu asked doubtfully.

"As the city lord, I can keep a part of the tributes for myself." He replied, while trembling. "It's also the reason why I can cultivate so fast…"