Chapter 259 Like-minded people devour each other

The ground was covered in scorched bats; some were curled into balls, while others remained in the poses of their final struggles. The air was thick with the heavy scent of smoke, mingled with the stench of blood and bat guano, enough to make one retch.

Ling Xiaoning stepped on a charred bat carcass, which emitted a crisp crunch, startling him so much that he jumped and quickly pulled his foot back. His hand, clutching the fluorescent pearl, was trembling slightly; the pale light revealed shadowy outlines all around, making the place appear even more eerie and terrifying.

Shen Suning looked back at him without a word, merely reaching out to gently pat his shoulder.

The group continued deeper inside.

The tunnel was winding and deep, sometimes wide and sometimes narrow. The halo from the fluorescent pearl could only illuminate a radius of three feet; beyond that was an impenetrable darkness.

The smell of blood grew heavier.

Wan Chongshan followed behind Chen Mu, the veins on his hand gripping the hook-sickle spear bulging, his eyes fixed intently ahead as if trying to pierce through the darkness.

He had to find his younger sister, even if... even if it was only her corpse.

The tunnel took another turn, and suddenly the view opened up before them.

It was an unusually spacious cavern; the ceiling was impossibly high, the surroundings were filled with jagged rocks, and the floor was piled with a thick layer of bat guano that almost reached their ankles.

The light from the fluorescent pearl was too weak to reveal the full picture, but they could vaguely hear some kind of hair-raising movement.

"Snap... snap..."

The sound came from above, as if something was chewing. The sound of bones cracking mingled with the muffled tearing of flesh, echoing throughout the cavern.

Everyone stopped in unison and looked up at the ceiling.

The darkness was too thick to see anything, but the chewing sound was right above them, intermittent, occasionally accompanied by a very low hiss.

Chen Mu's thoughts stirred slightly, and the changes in the airflow within three feet of his body were instantly reflected in his mind.

He could perceive that, five or six zhang directly above, there was an extremely chaotic current of air, mixed with the scent of blood, slowly moving.

That thing... was right there.

He turned his head and lowered his voice.

"Brother Feng."

Feng Qing understood. He drew an arrow from his quiver, took out a tinderstick, and lit the cloth strip tied to the arrowhead.

The fire arrow whistled out, instantly illuminating the entire ceiling, and everyone saw that scene.

The ceiling was covered in densely packed bats, large and small, layered one upon another, and among them, a huge figure was wriggling.

It was the Bat King.

It was hanging upside down, but its hands were tightly gripping a still-struggling Blood Bat, its fangs deeply embedded in the Blood Bat's neck, greedily feeding.

The Blood Bat was not yet dead, its limbs twitching and wings flapping unconsciously, but it could not break free from the Bat King's sharp claws.

The Bat King was charred all over, its originally dark red wing membranes burned to tatters, revealing the rotting flesh beneath. Its pitch-black eyes were now bloodshot, fixed intently on the prey in its hands, deaf to everything else.

After being injured and then suffering from the fire, it had been trapped in this cave without any blood-food to replenish itself, and had actually begun to eat its own kind alive.

Those Blood Bats that had not yet developed human faces were stuffed into its mouth one by one, pierced by its fangs, drained of blood, and then casually tossed aside.

More than a dozen shriveled corpses had already piled up on the ground, all of them Blood Bats that had been drained of blood.

As the firelight suddenly flared, the Bat King abruptly looked up, its pitch-black, white-less eyes fixed on the group below. Blood still hung from the corners of its mouth, and the remains of the bat were still clutched between its fangs; it looked extremely ferocious.

Feng Qing had already nocked a second fire arrow, the arrowhead pointing directly at that huge figure.

The Bat King suddenly let out a shrill screech, dropped the bat, flapped its wings, and swooped down from the ceiling.

"Scatter!"

Chen Mu shouted sharply, and everyone immediately scattered in all directions.

The Bat King's dive was astonishingly fast, reaching the group in the blink of an eye, but it didn't pounce on any of them. Instead, it pulled up abruptly three feet from the ground, flapped its wings violently, and began to circle along the ceiling.

It was observing, looking for a weakness.

The firelight died out, and the cave plunged back into darkness.

The faint halo of the fluorescent pearl could only illuminate a radius of three feet, making it impossible to capture any trace of that thing.

The group could only hear the rapid sound of wings flapping above them; the sound was near and far, erratic, and they couldn't judge where it would pounce from the next second.

"It's too fast!"

Ling Xiaoning's voice carried a hint of panic, "We can't see where it is at all!"

Feng Qing had an arrow nocked on the string but hesitated to shoot. He aimed several times, but each time, just as the arrow was about to be released, the black shadow would suddenly change direction, making it impossible to track its trajectory.

Zhao Mo also frowned, the needle on the tracking disk in his hand spinning wildly; it couldn't lock onto its position at all.

"This beast is too cunning."

The Bat King seemed to sense their predicament and let out a triumphant hiss, circling even faster. Sometimes it would swoop over their heads, bringing a gust of foul wind; other times it would hover in one spot, emitting a provocative screech, as if toying with them.

Chen Mu narrowed his eyes; that thing... was indeed more troublesome than when they had fought it the other day.

Its turning speed in the air was faster, its reactions more agile, and the stench of blood accompanying it was even more intense.

It had consumed the blood of its own kind; its injuries were worse than before, but it was also more ferocious than before.

With a slight stir of his thoughts, the second level of the Wind and Rain Induction Mantra quietly activated. Within three zhang, every slight change in airflow was reflected in his mind.

No matter how fast or silent the Bat King flew, as long as it moved, it would disturb the air. Chen Mu closed his eyes, no longer using his eyes to see, but using the wind to perceive.

It was coming.

A current of air swept down diagonally from the front left, extremely fast, aiming directly at Ling Xiaoning.

Chen Mu opened his eyes abruptly, the soul-slaying blade unsheathed, the blade light like a bolt of silk, slashing directly at the black shadow.

The Bat King sensed danger, flapped its wings violently, and forced a turn in mid-air, narrowly dodging the blade. But the wind it stirred up as it passed clearly revealed its trajectory to Chen Mu.

Chen Mu exerted force under his feet, pushing the Divine Void Step to its limit, his figure chasing out like lightning. At the same time, the Wind God Wings activated, and the invisible wind force lifted him, allowing him to glide several zhang through the air, in hot pursuit.

The Bat King clearly hadn't expected Chen Mu to be able to keep up with its speed. Shocked and angry, it flapped its wings again to rise higher, wanting to shake Chen Mu off.

Chen Mu, however, did not give it a chance. The Wind and Rain Induction Mantra sensed the airflow brought by every flap of its wings, anticipating its turns in advance. The Wind God Wings utilized the momentum to rise, keeping him constantly biting at its heels, about a zhang behind.

The group watched in stunned silence.

Above the ceiling, one man and one bat, one chasing and one fleeing, shuttled through the darkness like lightning.

Chen Mu's movement technique was already eerie and unpredictable, and with the aid of the wind, it was unbelievably fast. The Bat King tried to shake him off several times, but each time he anticipated it in advance and clung tightly to it.

"Good heavens, this Chen Mu really has some real skills..."

Liu Quan muttered, then suddenly slapped his thigh.

"Oh no, chasing like this isn't a solution. Although the Bat King is injured, it is a flying creature after all. No matter how amazing Brother Chen is, he can't keep chasing it in the air forever!"

Before he had even finished speaking, Chen Mu indeed began to descend.