Nan Zhi sped along, carrying the woman she had just rescued. A thick, intense malice pricked at her back like a thousand needles, as if its owner might pounce and tear her to shreds at any moment.
Uncertain of the situation, running blindly would only lead her into the path of even more dangerous entities.
Her gaze darkened. Suddenly, she veered into a karst cave. With practiced speed, she pulled out some Wet Blood Mud and smeared it haphazardly over the woman's face. Then, she threw a blanket woven from Spirit Swallowing Grass over herself, grabbed Hongluo, and leaped into another cave to hide.
Splosh... Splosh... Splosh...
The heavy, massive sound of water breaking echoed through the cavern. Wrapped in her blanket, Nan Zhi lay flat against the edge of the cave, withdrawing her divine sense. Her eyes remained fixed on the subterranean lake, not missing a single movement.
Soon, a pair of thick antennae appeared in her line of sight. Judging by the size of the antennae alone, the creature beneath the water was of staggering proportions.
Smash! Boom! Boom!
Boom!
Having lost the source of the scent of blood, the creature seemed to be flying into a humiliated rage.
With the sound of churning water, the massive, thick green antennae swayed slowly. A giant, dark-green centipede with an oily, jet-black sheen crawled slowly out from the depths.
Nan Zhi saw it clearly.
Its body consisted of thirty-seven segments. Its head was a dark green, and its back was marked with deep brown furrows that looked like river valleys carved into hills. Starting from the second segment, countless thick, powerful legs sprouted from both sides of its body.
Most striking of all, unlike ordinary centipedes, a pair of shimmering, transparent golden wings grew from its middle segments, folded tightly against its back.
This was a terrifying, colossal beast!
Even the hundred-meter-long giant fish Nan Zhi had seen before would pale in comparison to this gargantuan dark-green centipede.
【Flying Golden-Winged Centipede: Level 47 (Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Level 2)】
It was simply unfair; even a bug had a cultivation level significantly higher than hers.
Nan Zhi silently pulled the blanket tighter around herself.
The Flying Golden-Winged Centipede swayed its head as if bored. It whipped its body around, its tail smashing a stone pillar connecting the ceiling and the floor into fine powder.
Boom!!
The ground shook and the mountains trembled once more. Countless Sun-Burning Stones shattered, sending splashes of liquid flame flying. The creature seemed to be playing, churning up pillars of water to toss boulders weighing dozens of tons high into the air before letting them crash back down.
While the giant centipede amused itself, Nan Zhi held the warm little hedgehog and closed her eyes to rest.
The stench of the Wet Blood Mud should mask the scent of blood. She could only hope the woman she had just rescued wouldn't suddenly make a sound.
Nan Zhi only saved people when it was within her power. If her life were truly at stake, she wasn't so reckless as to feed herself to a centipede for a stranger she had only met once.
The Golden-Winged Centipede played for a full hour. Only after it had thoroughly ravaged the surrounding Sun-Burning Stones, leaving the ground covered in fragments, did it depart in satisfaction.
Nan Zhi still didn't move. She listened as the sounds in the water faded into the distance. She waited in the cave for another half hour before cautiously extending her divine sense to investigate.
She had to ensure the thing wouldn't double back.
Fortunately, the woman's luck held out today.
Once Nan Zhi was certain the Golden-Winged Centipede had truly left, she stepped carefully out of the cave to check on the woman's condition.
The woman was severely injured. Her chest, abdomen, and thighs were covered in bite marks of varying severity. A large chunk of flesh had been torn from her abdomen, leaving her internal organs faintly visible.
Combined with the massive blood loss, the fact that this person was still alive was a testament to her sheer tenacity.
Nan Zhi shook her head as she pried the woman's mouth open to feed her a Blood Supplementing Pill and some Hemostatic Grass.
She had the habits of a hamster; she couldn't bear to throw away even the herbs and pills from the Qi Refinement stage, keeping them all piled in her system inventory.
After reaching Foundation Establishment, the efficiency of Qi-Supplementing Pills and Blood Supplementing Pills at restoring mana and health was far too low compared to higher-grade Qi-Augmenting Pills and Rejuvenation Pills.
As for the Hemostatic Grass, it was even less effective.
They were like chicken ribs—useless to consume, yet a pity to discard.
However, she hadn't expected them to actually come in handy.
Seeing Nan Zhi saving the woman, Hongluo helpfully assisted in crushing the Hemostatic Grass. Her process was simple: she took a handful of the grass, stuffed it into her mouth, chewed vigorously, and then spat out the green residue to apply to the woman's open wounds.
The lower the cultivation, the more pronounced the effects of low-tier pills.
After swallowing a Blood Supplementing Pill and a Qi-Supplementing Pill, the woman's injuries improved at a visible rate. Under the influence of the Hemostatic Grass, the wounds slowly began to close and scab over.
In the end, though her face remained pale and weak, the woman finally found the strength to speak.
“My glasses... my glasses...”
The woman squinted, groping blindly on the ground. Hongluo reluctantly handed over the item she had secretly tucked away before they fled.
She recognized it as glass. Even though it was shattered, it was still worth quite a bit of silver.
“Thank you, thank you.”
The severely nearsighted woman squinted, peering through the cracked lenses as she struggled to identify the person in front of her.
“Did you give me an analgesic? I feel much better. I am Liu Ruhe, a member of the seventh Western Xia underground palace exploration team. Which group are you with? Why did you bring a child...”
Before she could finish, her expression froze.
Through the shattered glass of her spectacles, she finally saw the attire of the person before her.
A green robe, an oval face, and hair styled in an ancient bun. Beside her stood a young girl dressed in ancient-style hemp clothing.
“Are you Ma Guniang?”
Liu Ruhe's voice was very soft, as if she thought she were talking in her sleep.
...
To prevent the Golden-Winged Centipede from returning, Nan Zhi led Hongluo and Liu Ruhe deeper into the karst caves.
During this time, no matter how nauseated she felt, Liu Ruhe didn't dare wipe away the Wet Blood Mud on her body.
Perhaps out of trust for the identity of “Ma Guniang,” or perhaps for other reasons, Liu Ruhe took the initiative to tell Nan Zhi everything about this miraculous place.
“I was originally a researcher at the Helan Snow Mountain Underground Research Institute, specifically responsible for studying supernatural phenomena and special waves appearing on the Blue Star. Three years ago, in the Western Xia Imperial Tombs not far from the Helan Snow Mountains, we captured a unique frequency.
“This wave was different from any known biological frequency. After six months of observation, we discovered its source might be two thousand meters underground, or even deeper within the Earth's crust.
“I was the head of this project, so I have been tracking this wave. Even after the underground institute merged with the 233 Northwest Circle Special Investigation Bureau, I didn't give up. I wanted to find the source of this biological frequency.”
When discussing her professional field, Liu Ruhe's voice naturally became much steadier.
“Until the beginning of this year, when the archaeological work at the Western Xia Imperial Tombs resumed. Our team excavated two ancient corpses that still maintained cellular activity. That mysterious biological frequency appeared again, right there in the underground palace of the Imperial Tombs, inside a bottomless underground passage.”
Nan Zhi's eyes flickered slightly, but she did not interrupt her.
Rate on N.U.
