Song Yao didn't stand on ceremony, taking the cloak and putting it on.
The fluffy hood covered most of her face, leaving only a hint of her chin exposed.
She looked up at Cheng Yue, the corners of her eyes curving. “Thank you.”
Cheng Yue looked away awkwardly, then turned to see the youth leaning against the stone wall and coughing. She walked over and asked, “How are you doing?”
The youth caught his breath for a moment and stood up straight. “I'm fine, I won't die. My name is Yu Qun. You can just call me Senior Brother Yu. Or, if you don't mind, you can also call me Third Brother-in-Law.”
Song Yao: “?”
Fortunately, everyone clearly minded.
Chen He, particularly displeased, reminded him, “Fellow Daoist Yu, you and my Third Senior Sister do not have a legitimate relationship. Addressing yourself like that is inappropriate.”
Yu Qun immediately became unhappy. “Song Yao stole my clothes and ruined my purity. How is that not legitimate? I'm much more legitimate than that fickle Ye Chang'an outside.”
Chen He: “What if stealing your clothes was just a misunderstanding?”
Yu Qun: “A misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?”
Song Yao really didn't want to listen to these messy arguments about her, so she interrupted, “Shut up. If you draw the snake demons over, you can go to hell with Song Yao.”
Only then did the two of them shut their mouths.
After a moment, Yu Qun spoke up again, “How about this? All of you stay behind me. Find a hidden spot to take cover, and I'll go out to scout.”
However, the entire cave was dead silent; not even a trace of a snake demon could be seen.
Song Yao paused her steps, her gaze sweeping over the connected grottos on both sides. “Which direction did that tremor come from earlier?”
Ming Ran thought about it and pointed toward the depths of the cave. “It should be over there.”
Following the direction she pointed, the group passed through two narrow cave openings and walked deep inside.
In the center of the ground, a bottomless crack had split open. Below was pitch black, with something faintly shimmering.
Song Yao raised her hand and pressed the hilt of her Bishui Sword. A faint green glow slowly lit up along the blade, illuminating the jagged, overturned rubble at the edge of the crack.
She took a step forward. Just as the tip of her sword was about to pierce into the crack, her eyes suddenly narrowed, and she flipped backward almost on instinct.
Several dark shadows suddenly lunged out from the grottos in all directions, rushing straight at her face with a foul, fishy wind.
Stark white venomous fangs scraped past her cheek, almost brushing the skin on the side of her neck.
“Watch out!”
Chen He barked a low warning and drew his sword to block in front of Cheng Yue and Ming Ran. His sword qi sliced through the air, forcing back the lunging snake demons.
Yu Qun reacted instantly as well, holding his sword horizontally to block the outer flank.
In the blink of an eye, the group was completely surrounded by snake demons.
These snake demons were clearly far more ferocious and faster than the Golden Scale Snake Demons in the Miasma Forest.
Their entire bodies were covered in dark black scales that gleamed with a cold, hard luster under the faint light. Their thick, long bodies coiled along the stone walls of the grottos, their tail tips sweeping across the wet, slippery rocks and kicking up fine stone chips.
Their forked tongues flickered, and hissing sounds echoed one after another throughout the hollow cave.
Foul, smelly saliva dripped onto the stone floor, corroding tiny pits into the ground.
Ming Ran gritted her teeth. “Oh no, how did they suddenly pop out! We're no match for them!”
If these snake demons were human cultivators, they would have at least late Golden Core Stage cultivation, perhaps even higher!
Chen He's brow furrowed deeply. “This shouldn't be. How could there be demons of this level in the Myriad Bones Forest realm? And so many appearing all at once!”
Yu Qun gripped his sword even tighter. “Indeed. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”
“Why else? Of course it's because they're protecting whatever is down there.”
Song Yao approached the crack again and raised her sword once more. Sure enough, the snake demons suddenly grew extremely agitated and tense, their hissing deafening as if they would rush forward to devour her whole the very next second.
A slight smile curled on her lips. “Let me guess. Is the Lotus Crow-Sparrow Grass down there?”
As soon as she finished speaking, she sank her wrist and thrust the Bishui Sword into the crack in the ground without hesitation.
The moment the tip of the sword sank in, all the surrounding snake demons suddenly erupted in a piercing shriek. Their dark black scales stood on end from frenzy, and they lunged at Song Yao like madmen.
The entire Twin Insect Cave also shook violently. Large boulders crashed down, and the rumbling noise was deafening.
“The cave is going to collapse!”
Ming Ran shouted, swinging her sword to sweep away a falling boulder. “Everyone, be careful!”
Caught off guard, everyone scrambled to dodge the snake demons' attacks and the falling rocks.
Before they could escape, a muffled boom echoed from the direction they had come. The thick stone wall collapsed with a crash, completely blocking off the entrance tunnel.
Song Yao used her sword qi to flip and dodge the snake fangs. Without looking back, she stared intently at the churning dark shadow inside the crack and pushed her sword tip down another half-inch.
A highly bizarre, agonizing shriek suddenly exploded from deep within the crack.
Along with it, even the wildly lunging snake demons began to writhe in agony.
In the next second, a scalding, fishy wind blasted out from the crack. The shockwave, carrying loose stones, violently knocked Song Yao off her feet.
Fortunately, Cheng Yue was quick and caught her, and the two of them rolled to the ground together.
Just as everyone stabilized themselves and retreated to one spot, they saw the central crack collapse once more with a roar.
Amidst flying stone chips, a giant caterpillar covered in grayish-green mucus and bearing the withered yellow head of a bird slowly crawled out. Translucent cocoons that hadn't fully shed still clung to its skin.
Goosebumps simultaneously broke out all over everyone, and they cursed in unison.
What the hell was this thing?
How could it look so visually offensive!
Chen He was silent for a moment before asking, “This couldn't be the Lotus Crow-Sparrow Grass, could it?”
Song Yao poked her dust-covered face out of the hood. “Spot on.”
Chen He: “B-But isn't the Lotus Crow-Sparrow Grass supposed to be an herb?”
Song Yao: “This kind probably has higher nutritional value.”
Chen He: “...”
Putting aside whether its nutritional value was high or not, how was anyone supposed to eat something that looked like this?!
“It's probably about to gain sentience.”
Cheng Yue quietly chimed in, “The Lotus Crow-Sparrow Grass is both bird and grass. There is a certain probability that it will form a cocoon and transform. These snake demons were likely nourished by it to become this strong, and in turn, they were forced to protect it. It's a symbiotic relationship.”
“No wonder we couldn't find it earlier. It was actually underground.”
As they spoke, the Lotus Crow-Sparrow Grass's cloudy, round eyes slowly rolled, eventually locking onto them.
The limp snake demons around them seemed to receive an invisible command. They reared up one after another, flicking their forked tongues as they slowly closed in on them once more.
Yu Qun hurriedly pulled a stack of talismans from his spatial pouch and took a deep breath. “My Evil-Breaking Talismans can blast an opening. In a moment, I'll activate them, and you guys follow me and charge in that direction. Remember, don't look back, just run forward!”
Everyone immediately nodded. “Alright.”
Yu Qun took a deep breath and poured all his spiritual energy into the talismans in his palm. The talismans suddenly flared with a blinding golden light.
In the next second, the golden light exploded with a bang. A scalding wave of air, carrying gravel and dust, rushed at their faces. Yu Qun roared hoarsely, “Run!”
Almost entirely on instinct, everyone rushed forward, filing out over the sharp, jagged gravel.
Rumbling sounds of collapse continued to echo from the cave behind them. The shrieks of the snake demons, muffled behind the thick stone walls, gradually faded away.
The moment they burst out, the glaring daylight made them squint. A cold wind carrying the earthy scent of vegetation blew over, mixed with the smell of dust, making them cough repeatedly.
Several of them slumped onto the muddy ground outside the cave entrance, panting heavily, their faces and hands smeared with black soot.
Yu Qun rested his hands on his knees to catch his breath, wiped the soot from his face, and turned around to count heads.
Wait.
Something was wrong.
How was there one missing?
Rate on N.U.
