197: Chapter 197 Dragon Blood Corpse Lizard

Inside Black Dragon Gorge, black mist churned like a giant mouth slowly closing.

As Lin Mo led the four Rank 7 Awakeners deep into the gorge, several familiar figures finally appeared ahead.

Han Xiao was at the forefront, his battle saber still stained with wet black blood. His shoulders rose and fell slightly, clearly having just come out of an intense battle.

Gu Yunting's face was pale, but he refused to back down. He was leaning against a partially collapsed rock wall, catching his breath.

Ji Wuchen stood behind them to the side. A faint mist covered his glasses, and he held a broken bone fragment in his hand, his expression solemn.

Seeing Lin Mo and the others appear, Han Xiao was momentarily stunned before breaking into a wide grin.

"You're finally here."

"If you hadn't shown up, I would've thought you'd slaughtered all those West Federation scum outside."

Lin Mo glanced at him and said calmly, "Pretty much."

Han Xiao: "..."

Gu Yunting was about to make a sarcastic remark, but when he looked up and met Lin Mo's overly calm eyes, the words died in his throat.

Ji Wuchen was in no mood for jokes.

He looked up toward the direction Lin Mo and the others had come from, his tone deepening. "What's the situation outside?"

Before Lin Mo could speak, the middle-aged man with the old shoulder injury spoke up in a heavy voice:

"The West Federation reinforcements are almost here."

"However, their vanguard has been heavily damaged by us. They won't be getting in anytime soon."

Hearing this, Han Xiao's eyes immediately lit up. "Nicely done."

The man with black wristguards grinned. "If they want to charge in, they'll have to ask us first."

Lin Mo didn't respond to that. He simply looked deeper into Black Dragon Gorge, his gaze sinking slightly.

"What's the situation inside?"

Ji Wuchen's expression immediately turned serious upon hearing the question.

He pointed ahead at the swirling black mist and said solemnly:

"The situation is worse than imagined."

"This place is incredibly eerie."

"It seems the dragon god skeleton... is indeed here."

Everyone's expression tightened simultaneously.

Ji Wuchen took a deep breath and continued:

"Ever since we entered, the terrain of the gorge has been shifting. The original mountain path has collapsed in three places, and the Bone Path ahead has been eroded by Dragon Qi. Many places aren't even paths anymore, but rather residual dragon bone veins buried underground."

"Even more troublesome is—"

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone, his tone dropping an octave.

"The black mist here devours Mental Energy, and the Vicious Beasts here seem quite extraordinary. They are very powerful!"

"We've found that the further in we go, the faster our Mental Energy is consumed. That Dragon Blood Variant Beast from earlier crawled out of the black mist."

Lin Mo nodded. "What about the number of these Vicious Beasts?"

"We've only seen one so far," Ji Wuchen glanced at him, "but based on the tracks left on the ground, there are at least three more."

Gu Yunting: "..."

He was about to curse when he looked up and saw the corpse of the smashed Dragon Blood Variant Beast on the ground nearby.

Its chest was caved in, its spine shattered, and black blood was still slowly seeping out.

Lin Mo just looked down at the dark gold crystal core Ji Wuchen had just handed him.

The blood veins on the crystal core were still faintly flowing, emitting a scorching aura.

He put it away casually and asked calmly, "What about those West Federation people outside?"

Han Xiao immediately let out a cold sneer.

"Those scum?"

"They don't dare to charge in easily now. They're just keeping an eye on us from outside, clearly waiting for reinforcements."

At this point, everyone's expressions grew colder.

Clearly, the West Federation had no intention of giving up.

They only hesitated because Lin Mo and the others had hit them too hard in the previous round, so they didn't dare to push forward recklessly for the time being.

But everyone knew it was only temporary.

Once their true reinforcements arrived, the battle situation outside would change again.

Ji Wuchen pushed his glasses up and said in a low voice:

"So we can't delay for too long."

"The further into Black Dragon Gorge we go, the more dangerous it becomes. With the West Federation watching from outside, we'll be in a very passive position once they and the dragon pressure within the gorge bear down on us simultaneously."

Lin Mo's expression didn't fluctuate in the slightest upon hearing this.

He looked up at the churning black mist ahead, a very faint sharp glint appearing in the depths of his eyes.

"Passive?"

"If they dare to come, I'll make sure they never leave!"

These words made Han Xiao pause for a moment before he burst out laughing.

"Now those are the words I like to hear."

Gu Yunting rolled his eyes. "You people really don't value your lives."

Lin Mo glanced at him and said indly, "If lives were that valuable, those West Federation people wouldn't have come to deliver theirs time and time again."

Gu Yunting: "..."

He actually couldn't find a way to refute that for a moment.

Just then, the black mist ahead suddenly churned violently.

Dong—

A low, muffled thud echoed from the depths of the gorge, as if some massive creature was slowly turning over in the darkness.

The ground vibrated slightly along with it.

Everyone looked up at the same time.

Deep within that impenetrable black mist, a looming dark gold skeletal shadow revealed a corner of itself once again.

The skeletal shadow was shockingly massive. Even the small section revealed was like a mountain ridge lying across the gorge. The bone surface was covered in ancient and complex patterns, and a faint dragon-like roar echoed through the mist.

Ji Wuchen's face changed, and his voice dropped even lower:

"The dragon remains is awakening faster than I anticipated."

"Further ahead should be the true core area."

Lin Mo looked at that corner of the dragon bone, his eyes narrowing slightly.

He could feel the dragon blood within his body stirring gently, as if responding to some distant and ancient call.

Behind him, the four Rank 7 Awakeners also tensed their bodies at the same time.

This was the throat of an awakening ancient behemoth.

Once they stepped in, they would either seize the Opportunity or be swallowed whole.

Lin Mo slowly exhaled.

"Since we've confirmed this is the burial ground of the dragon god skeleton, then let's find it!"

"I want to see exactly what this thing the West Federation is so desperate to snatch looks like."

Han Xiao grinned and pointed his saber forward.

"Do you even need to ask?"

"It's definitely something good."

Gu Yunting was about to speak when a sharp hiss suddenly came from the black mist ahead.

The next instant, several distorted black shadows lunged out of the mist, moving as fast as arrows!

"Here they come again!" Gu Yunting's face paled.

The black mist ahead suddenly surged, and several distorted black shadows pounced out.

The creatures looked like lizards, yet were more than three times larger. Broken bone spikes grew along their spines, and their limbs were abnormally long and deformed. As their claws dragged across the ground, they made a piercing sound like metal scraping stone.

Even more bizarrely, their flesh was almost translucent, and dark red blood vessels could be seen writhing inside, as if they were monsters being forcibly propped up by some power.

"Dragon-blood Corpse Lizards!"

Ji Wuchen's expression darkened, and he immediately shouted.

"Don't let them get close! The black mist on them is corrosive!"