39: Chapter 39 Attack on the Dark River and Counterattack

In the shadows where the torchlight could not reach, some kind of viscous liquid seemed to be slowly dripping from the cracks in the stone wall, making a "drip, drip" sound. In the depths of this dead-silent underground, it sounded surprisingly like the heavy heartbeat of some behemoth.

Lin Chen instinctively stopped in his tracks. The torch held high in his left hand swayed slightly, the orange-red flames licking the damp air with a faint crackling sound.

He could feel that after taking this step, the sensation fed back from the soles of his feet was no longer dry gravel, but a sticky mixture of rotting moss.

A-Tu behind him also sensed the anomaly. The burly man suppressed his breathing to the lowest level, his right hand gripping the chipped fine-iron hunting knife tightly, his spine tense like a wild boar ready to charge at any moment.

"Master, this smell... is getting stronger." A-Tu's voice was very light, creating layers of dull echoes in the narrow fork.

Lin Chen did not look back, his nasal cavity filled with that thick smell of sulfur.

This smell was very similar to the waste gas in chemical plants from his past life, yet it was mixed with the fishy stench of some biological metabolism.

He turned his body sideways, the protruding sharp corners of the rock occasionally rubbing against the old Qingmu Sect robe on his back. There were already marks left by the Qi family Cultivators there, and now, soaked by sweat, it stung painfully.

He closed his eyes slightly, attempting to release his Divine Sense to investigate, but the rock strata here seemed to contain some kind of special Ore. When his Divine Sense scanned over, it was as if it had fallen into sticky mud, only able to barely perceive the blurry outlines within about three zhang around him.

He had no choice but to push through.

He took a deep breath, enduring the burning sensation in his lungs, and continued to move downward.

This stretch of road was extremely steep, almost sliding against the stone wall.

After walking for about another half an incense stick of time, that suffocating sense of oppression suddenly vanished.

Lin Chen's soles landed on a flat and cold ground, and the light from the torch spread out to the surroundings.

This was a natural limestone cave about the size of half a basketball court, with a high ceiling where a few thin, hair-like stone cracks were vaguely visible.

At the end of those stone cracks, a trace of extremely faint, almost cold light leaked down; it was unknown whether it was the moonlight from the outside world or the refraction of some glowing Ore.

In the corners of the cave, clusters of pale blue moss were emitting a ghostly cold light, outlining the contours of the cave like a dream.

And in the center surrounded by these mosses, a palm-sized pool of water lay quietly.

The pool water was clear and transparent, like a sapphire embedded in gray rock, the surface as smooth as a mirror, slowly swallowing the sweet spring water dripping from the stalactites on the cave ceiling.

"Master, water!" A-Tu's eyes shone amazingly under the torchlight.

He took three steps in two to reach the edge of the pool, but did not dare to reach in directly, instead fishing out a silver needle specially made by Su Qingyao from his bosom, carefully probing into the water.

The silver needle stayed in the clear pool water for several breaths; when taken out, it remained as bright as before.

A-Tu let out a long sigh of relief, impatiently cupping a palmful of spring water to his mouth.

"Hiss—so cool! Master, this water is alive, it's very sweet! And... this Spiritual Qi concentration is much stronger than that in the creek outside!" A-Tu said, while greedily gulping down a few more mouthfuls.

That refreshing coolness seemed to instantly wash away the fatigue all over his body, and even his bloodshot eyes regained some luster.

Lin Chen walked over and also took a small sip.

The spring water flowed into his abdomen along his throat, like a clear stream instantly wandering through his limbs and bones. The Meridians that were aching due to the overdraw of spiritual power actually produced a faint warmth under the nourishment of this Spiritual Qi.

"Good water." Lin Chen commented softly, but his gaze crossed the pool and landed on a stone wall on one side that was unnaturally flat.

He raised the torch and approached, only to see that below the stone wall, a few thick bluestone slabs were scattered.

The surface of these slabs was covered with chisel marks made by artificial excavation, and even on some broken edges, one could catch a few remnants of long-expired rune patterns.

Those patterns were ancient and heavy, by no means the flashy style of the current Qi family or Qingmu Sect.

Lin Chen's heartbeat involuntarily accelerated a bit.

Behind the stone slabs, a pitch-black cave entrance was half-hidden.

The entrance was extremely narrow, only allowing a child to squeeze in sideways, but as Lin Chen stood in front of the entrance, he could feel a steady stream of dry and powerful airflow gushing out from inside.

This meant that behind this entrance led to a huge space with an independent ventilation System.

"A-Tu, stay alert." Lin Chen instructed with a grave expression, then stuck the torch into a stone crack, slowly lowered his body, closed his eyes to condense his last bit of Divine Sense, attempting to probe into the unknown dark entrance.

However, the moment his Divine Sense touched the shadow of the entrance, a strong intuition honed by countless life-and-death battles instantly made his scalp tingle!

Deep in that entrance, two eerie, scarlet red lights filled with bloodthirsty desire suddenly lit up.

"Back off!"

Lin Chen roared, his body leaning backward forcibly, the whole person like a fully drawn bow, his feet firmly kicking the ground.

Whoosh—!

A nauseatingly thick fishy wind sprayed out from the cave, and immediately following, a gray-black afterimage accompanied by a roar that shattered eardrums, like a black lightning bolt, shot directly out from the narrow entrance. The long snout filled with sharp teeth had a clear target, aiming straight for Lin Chen's throat.

Slash!

Although Lin Chen avoided the vital point, the monster's speed was too fast, and the fishy wind it brought actually cut a shallow bloodstain on his cheek.

Borrowing the light of the torch that had fallen to the ground, Lin Chen finally saw the true face of this ambusher.

It was a monster about a zhang long, covered in gray-black scales the size of millstones with a texture like pig iron.

Its appearance resembled a crocodile, but its limbs were thicker and more powerful, with claws glinting with a ghostly dark light.

That pair of scarlet eyes locked onto Lin Chen, and viscous saliva that made a hissing corrosive sound when it hit the rocks constantly dripped from its mouth.

"Underground Poison-Scaled Crocodile!" Lin Chen's eyes darkened.

This kind of Yao Beast is extremely difficult to deal with; they lurk in the underground shadows at the intersection of Spiritual Veins all year round, living by devouring Ore containing Spiritual Qi and living beings that stray into it.

Looking at the size and the condensed Demonic Qi of this Poison-Scaled Crocodile, its strength was likely comparable to the Peak of the Ninth Level of Qi Refining for human Cultivators, and it had even faintly touched the threshold of Foundation Establishment.

"You beast, seeking death!" A-Tu roared, disregarding the huge gap in cultivation, the broken blade in his hand carrying a faint spiritual light, slashing fiercely at the back of the Poison-Scaled Crocodile's neck.

Clang—!

A harsh sound of metal collision rang out, and A-Tu only felt a sharp pain in his arm, the webbing between his thumb and index finger instantly splitting open.

That slash, which was enough to split stubborn stone, only left a shallow white mark on the Poison-Scaled Crocodile's scales, and instead, a large gap was chipped off his own blade.

The Poison-Scaled Crocodile was enraged by this slash, and its thick tail lashed out violently, bringing up a sharp whistling sound, whipping against the giant rock next to it like an iron whip.

With a rumble, the hard bluestone slab shattered like fragile porcelain under this one tail swipe.

"A-Tu, scatter! You can't break its defense!" Lin Chen was anxious.

At this moment, although his Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation suppressed the opponent in Rank, his Meridians were damaged, his left fist was severely injured, and in this narrow cave, his movement technique could not be displayed at all.

The Poison-Scaled Crocodile seemed to sense that Lin Chen was the biggest threat; its four limbs exerted force, like an out-of-control heavy armored tank, rushing over crazily against the ground.

Lin Chen dared not take it head-on, his toes kicked hard on the rock wall, and his whole body forced a twist in mid-air, narrowly grazing past the crocodile's mouth.

However, the moment he landed, the Poison-Scaled Crocodile's reaction was surprisingly agile.

Its tail, covered in barbs, used the momentum of the forward charge to draw a strange arc in the air, sweeping fiercely towards Lin Chen's waist and abdomen.

Although Lin Chen raised his right arm to block, the immense force like a collapsing mountain still penetrated his defense.

He felt a tightness in his chest, and a teeth-aching crisp sound came from his left ribs.

The intense pain instantly made cold sweat the size of beans ooze from his forehead, and his whole body was knocked flying by this tail swipe, hitting the cave wall behind him heavily. The unhealed wound on his back split open again, and blood instantly soaked his clothes.

"Master!" A-Tu's eyes were about to split; he knew Lin Chen was already injured, and this blow was almost fatal.

The Poison-Scaled Crocodile clearly did not want to give its opponent any chance to breathe; its huge body was unusually light on the slippery ground, and it opened its bloody maw again, biting down on Lin Chen's head.

The nauseating smell was close at hand, and Lin Chen could even see the dark red soft flesh churning deep in the monster's throat.

Just at this life-and-death moment, A-Tu, who had always been treated as an assistant by Lin Chen,

This man who had followed Lin Chen for many years did not choose to retreat, but instead lunged forward, throwing his whole body onto the side of the Poison-Scaled Crocodile.

He threw away the useless broken blade, his hands desperately clutching the soft scales at the connection between the Poison-Scaled Crocodile's forelimbs and torso, using all his strength to shove the handle of his bone dagger into the corner of the Poison-Scaled Crocodile's eye.

Awoo—!

The Poison-Scaled Crocodile let out a shrill scream, and the intense pain caused its movement to bite Lin Chen to shift for a moment.

Its huge head shook wildly, trying to shake off this Mortal who was stuck to it like a bug.

A-Tu refused to let go, but he was only at the Second Level of Qi Refining.

In its frenzy, the Poison-Scaled Crocodile turned and bit A-Tu's shoulder.

Crack!

That was the sound of sharp teeth piercing muscle and crushing bone.

"Ah—!" A-Tu let out a painful groan, blood gushing out like a fountain, but he still hugged that thick forelimb tightly, roaring indistinctly: "Master... do it!"

Lin Chen looked at this scene, his eyes instantly turning blood red.

"You beast, die!"

He endured the sharp pain of his broken left rib and forcibly squeezed out the last bit of his core spiritual power from his Qi Sea.

The originally pale golden Spiritual Qi at this moment, because of his anger, faintly took on a trace of violent dark red.

He did not retreat, but instead lunged forward, his right fist clenched, the stone ring on his thumb flashing a determined light under the torchlight.

Because the Poison-Scaled Crocodile was busy tearing at A-Tu, a slightly thinner scale gap under its relatively soft throat was just exposed in Lin Chen's field of vision.

That was its only gateway to life, and also its only fatal weak point.

Lin Chen's punch gambled with all his dignity and life.

A dull thud echoed in the cave.

Lin Chen's right fist, carrying the condensed Spiritual Pressure unique to the Foundation Establishment Stage, was like a thousand-pound hammer, precisely striking that gap between the scales.

The punch force penetrated the body; that was the power capable of collapsing mountains and shattering stones.

The Poison-Scaled Crocodile's body stiffened suddenly.

In its scarlet eyes, the original cruelty was instantly replaced by a look called fear.

That violent spiritual power exploded in its fragile internal organs, shattering its throat bone and twisting its heart pulse.

It struggled and let out a low, leaky roar, its huge body twitched a few times, and finally, those scarlet eyes completely lost their luster, crashing heavily into the pile of rubble, splashing a ground of poisonous blood.

Lin Chen also seemed to be exhausted, collapsing to the ground, panting heavily, sweat mixed with blood dripping onto the ground along his chin.

But he couldn't care about checking his own injuries, crawling and scrambling to A-Tu's side.

"A-Tu! A-Tu, wake up!"

A large piece of flesh had been torn from A-Tu's shoulder, deep enough to see bone, and what was even more terrifying was that an eerie dark blue color had already appeared at the edge of the wound.

The saliva of the Underground Poison-Scaled Crocodile contained strong neurotoxins; if not treated in time, a Qi Refinement Stage Cultivator would turn into a puddle of pus in less than half an incense stick of time.

Lin Chen's hands trembled as he took out the bottle of highest-grade antidote Medicinal Pill that Su Qingyao had stuffed into his hand before leaving from the Storage Pouch at his waist.

He couldn't care about the pain, first crushing one of them with a punch, and carefully applying the medicinal powder to A-Tu's blackened wound.

Sizzle—

The medicinal powder came into contact with the venom, emitting bursts of foul-smelling white smoke.

A-Tu shivered with pain, but gritted his teeth and didn't make a sound.

"Master... I... I'm fine. Don't waste... such expensive medicine..." A-Tu's voice was as weak as a mosquito, yet he was still smiling foolishly.

"Shut up!" Lin Chen roared low, and stuffed the remaining Medicinal Pill directly into A-Tu's mouth, only letting out a sigh of relief when he saw the dark blue at his wound gradually receding and his breathing becoming more stable.

Lin Chen leaned against the stone wall, using his torn clothing to wrap his broken left rib haphazardly.

Every move caused a heart-piercing pain that made him almost faint, but he knew it was not the time to rest.

He turned his head and looked at the mountain-like corpse of the Poison-Scaled Crocodile, and the small cave behind it that exuded an ancient aura.

Because of the Poison-Scaled Crocodile's violent outburst, the originally piled stone slabs had been completely shattered.

At this moment, a richer, purer Spiritual Qi, even carrying a faint fragrance of vegetation, was gushing out from the deep crack.

That was not just the Spiritual Qi of the earth vein, but more like some kind of long-forgotten dream sealed for thousands of years.

At this moment, Lin Chen felt a kind of fated pull.

The stone ring on his thumb, although not damaged in the collision just now, seemed to have absorbed a trace of the Poison-Scaled Crocodile's demon blood, and at this moment, it was emitting an extremely faint, yet real warmth in the darkness.

He looked at A-Tu's pale face, and then at the bottomless cave interior.

Should he return immediately with this discovered water source and wait for the Qi family's long siege in Shiyuan Valley?

Or should he take his severely injured body and gamble on the unknown vitality behind these stone slabs?

Lin Chen struggled to stand up, picking up the torch on the ground that was about to go out.

The torchlight jumped suddenly at this moment, casting his figure long into the space behind the pried-open stone wall.

There, a flight of stone steps, completely different from the outside and bearing obvious signs of manual excavation, was silently extending into the deepest part of the underground.