The Great Worm Lich

When comparing the sizes, a giant beast which had a body length exceeding 20 meters was nothing compared to a gush of steam. However, the giant crocodile roared as it swallowed the steam, making its short and thick neck shake. As the crocodile roared, the water next to the giant crocodile looked like it was boiling all of a sudden. Endless steam was rising, covering the giant crocodile’s enormous body not long after. The giant crocodile’s heavy body looked extremely light within the steam as it floated in a wobbly manner.

“Riding the clouds and mist! It’s riding the clouds and mist…” Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a moment as he watched. He could not help but shout in joy, “I wonder how strong of an attack power the clouds hold…”

Before he was finished speaking, everything within the giant crocodile’s field of view became a space of its own. All of the water vapor in the air turned into boiling steam and consolidated into a milky-white cloud. As the crocodile opened its enormous mouth to make a biting gesture, the cloud turned into a crocodile’s mouth, crushing the big tree next to it in half.

In China, legend has it that the crocodile was known as one of the dragon totem’s true forms while the dragon had its unique place out of all the totems in China. It was different from the Western dragon which looked like a giant reptile with wings, often representing a malicious power. The dragon in the Eastern world had a head that looked similar to a camel, a mouth akin to a donkey, eyes similar to a tortoise’s, ears resembling a cow, scales that looked like it came from a fish, whiskers similar to a shrimp’s, a stomach that was similar to a snake’s, and feet that looked like the talons of an eagle. It could appear and disappear at any moment, expand and shrink in size, and even lengthen and shorten in length. It could fly without any wings, ride on clouds and mists, and travel across the sky amidst the rain. It often represented royalty, justice, and power.

Naturally, just like how there were kind-hearted dragons in Western legends, there were legends of malicious Eastern dragons being killed by gods and warriors too. Since the beginning of history, these mythological stories spoke of dragon killings, which in reality were the slaying of crocodiles. For instance, Zhou Chu, a notorious general during the Jin dynasty, eradicated the three Scourges including an evil dragon. It was a giant crocodile in a lake.

The saltwater crocodile gave Zhang Lisheng an idea since it mastered the omniscient power of controlling the cloud. He was deep in his thoughts but his pondering was for naught since he had too little material to work with. His head was hurting from all the thinking, he could only conclude that it was best to pick a wizard gu that was related to mythical animals in the future. However, as he pondered even further, he figured that there were some hits and misses in many mythological stories in history. Picking a wizard gu based on mythical animals might end up becoming an eternal regret.

“Why am I thinking so much? A wizard gu is just a tool for a wizard after all. I’ll use it if it’s suitable and toss it if it’s not. I just need to be careful when I create it, there’s nothing to worry about apart from that,” Zhang Lisheng mumbled and smiled out of relief after realizing no inspiration came into his mind no matter how much he thought about it. “It would be a valuable memory for me to control a flying wizard gu with my own ability.”

He controlled Mountoad while exhaling the air out of its body as he spoke. It hopped into his backpack while he climbed onto Island Dragon’s back. He then controlled Island Dragon to hop onto the giant crocodile’s back with the cloud lingering on it.

The saltwater crocodile’s vast back was big enough for three slender Island Dragons to stand together. It seemed very stable that the wizard gu stood right in the middle. That was when Zhang Lisheng had to be careful. If the giant crocodile had some accidents when it flew, he could still control Island Dragon to glide while he rode on it and land safely. This was his plan.

Figuring that his plan was seamless, Zhang Lisheng calmed his mind down and began chanting witchcraft incantations. Suddenly, the cloud surrounding the giant crocodile became thicker. It eventually came to a point where it covered its gigantic body. A cloud that had a surface area exceeding hundreds of square meters appeared in the Amazon jungle ground as if it was cotton candy. It rose into the sky slowly after it was consolidated. It floated through the branches and floated with the wind blowing under it. It rose into the sky bit by bit, getting faster at times.

Storms would be evaporated and absorbed when it encountered the cloud. The wind and charges lingering in the air disappeared as they were absorbed by the cloud. Zhang Lisheng stared blankly at the cloud the giant crocodile consolidated with its omniscient power while the danger he expected did not happen. His eyes were covered with white mist, he could not see anything.

Suddenly, his eyes were blinded by the dazzling lights shining around him. Subsequently, he heard deafening thunder near his ears. He figured he might have floated into the sky. In the condition of being blind and deaf, the experience was different from the ancient gods who possessed the power to travel freely on clouds across oceans and mountains.

Zhang Lisheng rubbed his ears that was buzzing while forcing a smile within the cloud. “It seems like we need to do everything step by step, take a bite after another when we eat. I’m trying to fly before I could run, Zhang Lisheng oh Zhang Lisheng, you’re lucky that the lightning didn’t kill you this time…”

He took out the GPS device from his backpack as he mumbled to himself. The signal was blurry but the blinking dot representing Zhang Lisheng’s coordinates would appear occasionally so it was still functioning sometimes. He navigated the screen with one hand while looking for the Amazon main watercourse’s coordinates.

A few seconds later, Zhang Lisheng’s coordinates appeared on the Amazon map. He realized that he was 17km away from the Amazon main watercourse while he was less than 500 meters away from the watercourse’s major division. He then understood why the saltwater crocodile appeared in the pool on the jungle ground. Zhang Lisheng controlled the giant crocodile to descend on the cloud slowly. Soon they landed in a swamp covered in vines after following the GPS’s guidance.

As they landed safely, the mist around the saltwater crocodile faded while it stayed quietly inside the swamp. Zhang Lisheng was relieved to see that. He looked around his surroundings through the heavy rain, it was a dense rainforest behind him and a swamp river with heavy fog in front of him. The stench of rotten plants could be smelled, easily making one dizzy. The environment was similar to what he imagined. Although the Amazon had interesting terrains, the rivers in Tatetutu were more or less the same.

He calculated and controlled Island Dragon to hop off the giant crocodile’s back. After getting far away from the saltwater crocodile, he wiped away the rainwater on his face with a bit of force. He spat a mouthful of black blood and shouted the word ‘transform’. The black blood covered the giant crocodile, causing the wizard gu to groan loudly that went ‘huluhulu…’. It grew much bigger, thicker and wider now.

After the first refinement was done, Zhang Lisheng refined the giant crocodile two more times. Just like Mountoad and Island Dragon, it was now a triple refined wizard gu. When the last refinement was done, the saltwater crocodile’s body exceeded a length 40 meters while its body exceeded a width of six meters. Its gigantic diamond-shaped eyes that exuded a yellow glow were as big as a millstone.

“You’re the evil dragon that we Chinese call in mythological stories, so I shall name you Crocodragon then. You have a dragon in your name too, I hope that you could follow me back to New York obediently just like Island Dragon does. But you can’t be riding on a plane…” Zhang Lisheng mumbled while watching the saltwater dragon, an odd smile appeared at the edge of his lips. He controlled Island Dragon to go invisible and began running in the swamp. At the same time, Crocodragon followed behind Island Dragon. It moved its short limbs and gigantic body as it dashed forward in the Amazon River’s division.

Some ten minutes later, a tugboat pulling countless huge logs with logging staff on board cruised by slowly on the Amazon River. The bean-sized raindrops hit on the tugboat’s deck, causing splashing noises that didn’t stop. The staff and cruise members hid from the rain in the cabin. There was a gray-haired old man who was in his 60s, wearing an old rubber raincoat as he stood at the back of the boat. He was watching the hundreds or thousands of authentic wood being soaked by the water while speaking to a tall, handsome blonde man in his 20s or 30s. “John, I’ve been traveling this watercourse for a total of 37 years. I’ve fought with huge pythons and killed cannibal catfishes with a fishing spear. I’ve seen so many jaguars but no matter what kind of danger I face, I’ve never shown fear…”

“Grandpa, I… I heard a very… very big commotion in the jungle.”

“John, this is the Amazon. It’s an ancient jungle that’s been abandoned by god, you can only rely on your courage and experience here. Don’t worry, this route’s very safe now. The story I told you happened many years ago…”

Just when the old man was comforting the young man while smiling, the trees in the jungle along the river shore were broken and flew everywhere all of a sudden. A giant crocodile that was bigger than a train dashed out of the rainforest while shrieking. It dived into the river while splashing water everywhere.

The old man was stunned, he watched the huge hole that looked like a black hole in the jungle with his grandson as their jaws dropped. He fell onto the ground gasping for air all of a sudden.

“Holy sh*t, what… what was that? It looked like a croc… crocodile… It’s a crocodile that’s as big as a subway. Am I in a horror movie? Sh*t, could… could it be attacking us grandpa…” The blonde young man snapped back to his senses and shouted at the old man. He realized the old man was lying on the deck when he looked. “Grandpa… Grandpa… What happened to grandpa! Please get up… Oh my god grandpa, grandpa…”

As the young man was crying in devastation, Zhang Lisheng leaped from the jungle above his head, riding on Island Dragon. As the young man successfully controlled Crocodragon into the Amazon River as he planned, he proceeded to control it to swim towards the sea. After over two hours of traveling, Zhang Lisheng rode on Island Dragon and passed through a long, half-triangular turn as he followed the GPS device. He finally saw a majestic ocean far away.

The Amazon River that was 6,900 kilometers long and flowed through over seven million square kilometers turned into a giant line into the Atlantic ocean and became one. The green river water flowed into the ocean, dyeing it green. The green water then flowed into the ocean, its color being washed away gradually and turquoise was what presented far away in his eyes.

Zhang Lisheng stopped as he managed to control Crocodragon to head into the ocean from the river. He wiped the rainwater on his face away which was only futile, making him let out a long breath. He then controlled Island Dragon to dash towards Rukututu City immediately.