Zhu Yu, wielding Xiao Fei's yellow gourd with practiced ease, proceeded to capture several Earth Immortals.
Each time, he merely needed to approach within a certain distance, aim the gourd at an Earth Immortal, and with a single suction, it was done.
Compared to Xiao Fei's method, which was akin to harming a thousand enemies while injuring oneself eight hundred, where capturing an Earth Immortal would cost him half his life, Zhu Yu was dozens of times more potent.
Zhu Yu's consecutive successes were smooth at first.
The cultivators besieged by tentacles, upon seeing him, mistook him for a lifesaver and rushed towards him.
However, after capturing over a dozen individuals consecutively, the other Earth Immortals, sensing Zhu Yu's arrival from afar with their divine senses, fled from him like he was a plague god.
This indeed gave them a chance to escape Zhu Yu's clutches, but escaping the first day did not mean escaping the fifteenth.
The tentacles spread across the entire world, having already drained several Earth Immortals, while others were still encased within the tentacles, awaiting their demise.
Now, the tentacles permeated the whole world. Some cultivators, who had just narrowly escaped Zhu Yu, were immediately ensnared and enveloped by the tentacles.
As time passed, the Dao Worm's strength grew, and its efficiency in capturing Earth Immortal powerhouses increased.
Initially, there were over forty Earth Immortals who entered this world, and later, more arrived, bringing the total to fifty or sixty.
These individuals would ultimately fall into Zhu Yu's hands or be devoured by the Dao Worm.
Zhu Yu, using the yellow gourd, captured over a dozen Earth Immortals consecutively. By this point, his immortal power was beginning to wane, and he held an immortal stone, continuously refining it.
Xiao Fei handed him a large jar of ten-thousand-year-old spirit wine, but for someone of his cultivation level, the effect of the spirit wine was barely perceptible.
"Rumble..."
At this moment, a deafening roar echoed, the ground trembled violently, and the land split apart.
Countless fissures appeared on the ground, radiating outwards from a colossal crack that spanned the entire world, widening with each passing moment.
The terrain surrounding this massive fissure was pushed upwards, as if a monstrous beast lay within, about to burst forth from the earth.
"Not good! The Dao Worm's true form is about to emerge!"
Zhu Yu shouted, and amidst the ensuing chaos, he used the gourd to capture another person.
"Perhaps we should flee!"
Xiao Fei, seeing the situation, surmised that Zhu Yu was likely no match for the Dao Worm and suggested in a low voice.
"It's useless. If I could escape, I would have left long ago. When the sky falls, the tallest will bear the brunt of it. Moreover, once the Dao Worm's true form emerges, it will first devour this world, and then gradually consume the surrounding worlds. If it is not stopped and allowed to grow, it will eventually destroy all worlds."
As Zhu Yu spoke, a round, massive head emerged from the colossal crack.
The head was adorned with large, round black eyes.
A gaping maw opened, devoid of teeth or tongue, appearing as a bottomless abyss of darkness.
A colossal devouring force suddenly erupted from within the mouth.
Wherever this force reached, land, space, and the wildly thrashing tentacles vanished, replaced by a void of primordial chaos.
Xiao Fei recalled that the void of chaos he had seen upon first entering this world was likely caused by this Dao Worm's consumption.
The round head, seemingly unsatisfied after this initial bite, shifted direction and opened its mouth again.
This time, not only were vast swathes of land and space consumed, but two Earth Immortal powerhouses were also within the range of its maw.
At the brink of death, the two Earth Immortals joined forces, unleashing their most potent divine abilities. One of them summoned a spear a mile long and thrust it towards the gaping mouth.
However, before the spear could even penetrate, it shattered into fragments upon nearing the mouth and was swallowed.
The other Earth Immortal powerhouse summoned a mountain tens of miles wide and hurled it at the massive head.
The mountain struck the Dao Worm's head, causing it to merely sway slightly. With a swift gulp, the mountain was also consumed.
The attacks of the two Earth Immortal powerhouses did not enrage the Dao Worm; it didn't even notice that two ants had dared to attack it.
The Dao Worm continued to devour voraciously in its original direction, consuming the space along with the two Earth Immortals it hadn't noticed.
As the Dao Worm devoured the surrounding space, several more Earth Immortal powerhouses fell into its maw.
At this point, the Dao Worm's entire body was revealed.
Below its head, there was no neck, only a direct connection to a black, fleshy body.
This creature's form was indeed a colossal black worm, lacking hands but possessing numerous short, plump, fleshy legs.
The Dao Worm wriggled and crawled through the void, like a silkworm devouring mulberry leaves, continuing its consumption of this world.
The Earth Immortal powerhouses who had entered this realm appeared as weak as ants before the Dao Worm, utterly incapable of resistance.
Most had already been devoured by the Dao Worm, their essence absorbed to augment its strength.
Xiao Fei, flying in the air alongside Zhu Yu and witnessing the Dao Worm's immense power, had secretly stowed Xiao Hei away in his spatial realm.
As for Zhu Yu, he seemed to have some hidden trump cards, so Xiao Fei decided to observe further.
Upon seeing the Dao Worm's entire body revealed, Zhu Yu spat out a mouthful of vital blood and traced arcane patterns in the void with his fingers.
These patterns formed golden, shimmering runes in the air, floating serenely.
Xiao Fei, merely glancing at a rune, attempted to commit it to memory, but it caused him to feel dizzy and nearly fall from the sky.
Fortunately, a female immortal named Shui Ling'er steadied him.
"These runes contain the laws of the Great Dao; those with insufficient cultivation cannot gaze upon them!"
Shui Ling'er, uncharacteristically, offered Xiao Fei an explanation.
She had witnessed Zhu Yu's ability to make words manifest as laws.
Now, with Zhu Yu solemnly drawing runes with his vital blood, the immense power they contained could only be imagined.
After drawing one rune, Zhu Yu felt it was still insufficient and immediately spat out two more mouthfuls of vital blood.
In total, he drew three golden, shimmering talismans, which floated quietly in the air.
Zhu Yu had visibly thinned by several pounds, and dark circles had formed beneath his eyes.
In Xiao Fei's memory, Zhu Yu had never appeared so weakened, even when he was busy helping senior sisters with chores like unclogging drains.
The three golden runes emanated a powerful aura. Xiao Fei, simply by being close, felt his skin crack.
The Dao Worm, greedy for all forms of energy, now detected the three runes in the air and opened its mouth, unleashing a devouring force.
"Still! Crack! Break!"
Zhu Yu roared these three words, and the three runes shot forth, hurtling towards the Dao Worm.
The first rune landed on the Dao Worm, rapidly integrating into its body. The Dao Worm was instantly frozen in the void, utterly immobile.
The second rune struck the Dao Worm, causing numerous fissures to appear on its body, from which a large amount of black blood flowed.
The third rune hit the Dao Worm, and with a resounding boom, its body exploded as if struck by a critical blow.
Countless fragments scattered, and black blood splattered everywhere!
"Phew! It's finally dead!"
Xiao Fei let out a long sigh of relief, believing the matter had been perfectly resolved.
However, at that very moment, the shattered pieces of the Dao Worm's body rapidly decomposed in the void, vanishing without a trace.
In the place where the Dao Worm had appeared, a large mass of dark energy coalesced, forming a round, black head...