"We can't delay any longer." Feng Qingping took three blood-fiend tokens from her storage bag, handing two of them to Li Nanzhu and Feng Weilan. "A mother token can selectively contact child tokens. If you encounter danger, crush it."
Li Nanzhu took the token; it felt ice-cold to the touch, and the ghost-face pattern seemed to be staring at her. She quickly tucked it into the outermost layer of her storage bag—somewhere easy to reach but separate from her other important items.
Suisui hopped onto her shoulder again, its bone claws pointing deep into the tunnel.
The three of them exchanged looks. Without needing another word, they simultaneously activated their movement techniques and dashed down the tunnel where they had first encountered Rong Yuying.
The blood lines on the rock walls were flowing faster and faster, like countless tiny veins transporting nutrients deep underground. Li Nanzhu kept her Wanxiang Brush in hand, a wisp of green flame swirling around its tip, ready for any sudden developments.
After turning through three intersections, familiar pentagram marks appeared on the rock wall.
Feng Qingping stopped, her fingertip lightly touching the carving. "This isn't my handiwork."
Feng Weilan shook his head as well. "Nor mine."
"As I thought, it must have been left by the fourth senior brother." Li Nanzhu stood up and pointed in one direction. "Senior Sister Rong told me before that there were some older markings further ahead. Let's go that way!"
The three hurried along the markings, yet the end of the tunnel was still solid rock; the pentagram marks stopped abruptly right there.
Li Nanzhu reached out and felt the rough stone wall. It was cold and damp, without the slightest trace of a hidden mechanism.
"Strange..." Feng Qingping looked at the map, her finger tracing their route. "Based on the orientation, this spot should only be three rock walls away from the abandoned mine Senior Sister Rong pointed out."
Feng Weilan tapped the rock with his blade, producing a dull thud. "It's solid."
"No traces of an array, either," Feng Qingping added after an investigation, shaking her head.
Li Nanzhu suddenly remembered something and pulled out the blood-fiend token. "Could it be..."
"Don't use that blood-fiend token even if it works," Feng Qingping said, pressing down on Li Nanzhu's hand. "None of us know the consequences of dripping blood onto it."
Just as the three were trying to find other clues, a faint tremor came from the ground.
"Get back!"
Feng Weilan grabbed Li Nanzhu and pulled her away. Almost at the same instant, three blood-colored tentacles as thick as tree trunks burst through the earth!
The slimy tentacles were covered in suckers, and in the center of each sucker was a cloudy eyeball spinning wildly, locking onto the three of them.
"This is just like that octopus on the surface!" Li Nanzhu's Wanxiang Brush instantly ignited with green flame. "But it's even bigger!"
Even more terrifyingly, as the tentacles appeared, a thick, foul stench filled the entire tunnel—the exact same scent Ling Suxin had warned them about!
Li Nanzhu's stomach churned. The smell was more pungent than rotting meat, a mixture of rust and some kind of herb that went straight to her head.
"This must be what the evil cultivators are feeding!" Feng Qingping's array disk deployed a blue light barrier, blocking a sweeping tentacle. "They must be using blood to strengthen themselves!"
Li Nanzhu pulled out the blood-fiend token, attempting to use it to control the tentacle. But as soon as she held it up, the nearest tentacle twitched violently. The eyeballs in its suckers spun frantically, and a second later, it sprayed a jet of black liquid that hissed as it corroded the token!
"It's useless!" She retreated two steps, nearly getting hit by another tentacle. "They even reject things belonging to their own people!"
Cracks appeared in Feng Qingping's barrier under the repeated impacts, yet her voice remained exceptionally calm. "There are only two possibilities for why the blood-fiend token is ineffective—either this thing isn't under the evil cultivators' control at all..."
"Or they released it on purpose!" Li Nanzhu suddenly realized, a layer of cold sweat breaking out on her back. "The higher-ups of the Blood Fiend Sect intend to use everyone as fodder!"
Li Nanzhu felt a chill run down her spine. She knew evil cultivators were cruel, but she hadn't expected them to be so insane that they wouldn't even spare their own people!
She finally realized that by not leaving a single corpse when they rescued those cultivators earlier, they had likely completely enraged the enemy.
But there was no time for second-guessing—three tentacles were thrashing wildly in the tunnel, corroding the rock walls until they were full of holes. From deep underground, more slimy crawling sounds were drawing nearer!
Suisui nimbly leapt onto a tentacle, its bone claws stabbing deep into the soft flesh between the suckers. However, the monster seemed to feel no pain; instead, it sprayed foul black liquid from the wound!
"Li position!" Feng Qingping shouted.
Feng Weilan's blade pivoted instantly, blocking all the splashing venom. Li Nanzhu took the opportunity to throw three explosion talismans, accurately hitting the base of the tentacles.
Boom!
Amidst the explosion, the three tentacles only flinched slightly. The wounds healed rapidly, and they attacked even more ferociously. The thickest tentacle suddenly opened its tip, revealing a mouthpart full of sharp teeth as it lunged at Feng Qingping!
"Fifth Senior Sister!"
At the critical moment, Feng Qingping's array disk suddenly shifted shape, turning into a prism.
The moment the tentacle struck the mirror surface, it was repelled by its own force and slammed hard into the rock wall.
Seizing the chance, Feng Weilan's blade light flashed like lightning, severing that tentacle in two!
The severed tentacle writhed frantically on the ground. What sprayed out was no longer black blood, but a thick, dark red liquid. When Li Nanzhu's palm brushed against the liquid, a familiar wriggling sensation spread across her hand.
It was exactly the same feeling she had when she first touched a blood-fiend crystal. A terrifying thought suddenly occurred to Li Nanzhu.
These evil cultivators were raising these monsters simply to use them as living refinement devices!
They used them to obtain massive amounts of blood-fiend crystals!
Li Nanzhu was about to speak of her discovery when she noticed the other two tentacles suddenly swelling, their surface eyeballs turning blood-red.
The tunnel began to shake violently. More small tendrils drilled out from the cracks in the rocks, coiling toward the three like countless blood-snakes!
"Our retreat is cut off!" The light of Feng Qingping's array disk began to dim. "These tentacles are secreting corrosive slime!"
Li Nanzhu's mind raced. she stared intensely at the pentagram marks on the rock wall and then at the map. "No... the fourth senior brother wouldn't leave markings for no reason..." She suddenly looked up. "There must be a path behind this!"
Suisui suddenly jumped onto her shoulder, its bone claws pointing at the dark red liquid sprayed by the tentacles. Where the liquid hit the rock wall, the stone actually showed signs of slight dissolution!
"I see!" Li Nanzhu's Wanxiang Brush quickly drew a spiritual energy mark. "These monsters can corrode rock! The fourth senior brother intentionally lured them here to clear the path!"
Feng Qingping understood immediately. "Weilan! Lead them toward the rock wall with the markings!"
Upon hearing this, Feng Weilan dashed forward. His figure flickered as his blade light specifically targeted the two main tentacles.
When the monsters lunged at him in rage, he suddenly dodged to the side. The two tentacles slammed heavily into the spot marked with the pentagram!
Sizzle—
The moment the rock wall came into contact with the tentacles, it truly began to dissolve!
But even more frighteningly, the tentacles seemed to sense something. They suddenly became incredibly frenzied, frantically beating against that section of the rock wall.
"They're afraid of what's behind it!" Feng Qingping's array disk was recording the energy fluctuations. "There is something behind the wall that suppresses them!"
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