Chapter 162: The Monster in the Stone Wall
The Black Market and the Martial Market Academy had always been mortal enemies. If Lang Xin succeeded in releasing the Black Market villains imprisoned in the Crimson Void Secret Realm, it would be an absolute disaster for the academy disciples who had entered.
For Zhang Ruochen, it would also be extremely disadvantageous.
"I must eliminate Lang Xin. If he succeeds, I won't be able to take a single step in the Crimson Void Secret Realm."
Zhang Ruochen summoned Xiao Hei from the inner space of the Time-Space Crystal.
Xiao Hei's body had grown to the size of a lion, with a thick waist and stout legs, its belly quite swollen, and its round eyes as large as bowls. A pair of black wings had sprouted from its back, spanning eight meters in width when fully extended.
"Xiao Hei, I'll go ahead and tail Lang Xin. You stay here and wait for Senior Sister Duanmu. If she enters the Crimson Void Secret Realm, immediately tell her to come to the Lava River Valley to lend me a hand," Zhang Ruochen said.
Xiao Hei said, "That's an Earth Extreme Realm initial stage expert. Are you sure chasing after him isn't just walking to your death?"
"If he releases those Black Market villains, then we'll truly have no way to heaven and no door to hell," Zhang Ruochen said, his gaze firm. Once he made a decision, he would not change it.
Xiao Hei nodded. "Alright! Then be careful. This place is strange. I sense there might be other powerful barbarian beasts around. Don't die here by accident and drag me down with you."
Zhang Ruochen released his Space Domain, and his body vanished directly from where he stood.
He hadn't truly disappeared. Instead, he used the power of the Space Domain to distort the space around his body, creating a blind spot in vision.
It was precisely because he mastered the Space Domain that Zhang Ruochen had the confidence to track Lang Xin. Even if he wasn't yet a match for Lang Xin in combat, he was at least confident he could escape from his grasp.
Following the traces Lang Xin had left behind, Zhang Ruochen advanced step by step deeper into the Crimson Void Secret Realm.
The Crimson Void Secret Realm was located deep underground, the lair of the Four-Winged Earth Dragon, occupying a vast subterranean space.
Along the way, Zhang Ruochen could see bleached white bones, along with broken weapons embedded in some of the skeletal remains. There were both human bones and barbarian beast bones.
After chasing for about ten li, Zhang Ruochen spotted Lang Xin's figure.
Lang Xin descended a stone staircase, moving forward cautiously. Beside him was a raging river of lava.
Just as Zhang Ruochen was about to follow, the sound of a gale suddenly arose.
"Whoosh!"
A wave of scorching red heat blasted from the depths of the secret realm, the wind incredibly strong.
Zhang Ruochen quickly thrust the Snow Dragon Sword into the ground to steady himself, while also using the power of the Space Domain to reduce the force of the heatwave.
Not far from Zhang Ruochen, a crack split open in the stone wall, about a finger's width.
"Crack! Crack!"
The crack grew larger and larger, eventually widening to over a meter.
"Roar!"
A deafening beastly roar echoed from within the stone crevice.
A tentacle over ten meters long, covered in black carapace, shot out from the crack, tightly wrapping around Zhang Ruochen's body and dragging him toward the crevice.
Zhang Ruochen's arms were bound, so he could only use the strength of his five fingers to grip the sword hilt and thrust the Snow Dragon Sword upward.
"Bang!"
The Snow Dragon Sword, a seventh-rank True Martial Treasure, struck the black carapace of the tentacle, sending sparks flying, but failed to pierce through.
The tentacle exerted even greater force, dragging Zhang Ruochen to the edge of the crevice. Zhang Ruochen braced one foot against the stone wall, struggling to hold his ground.
"What kind of barbarian beast is this? Just one tentacle has this much power. If I'm dragged into that crevice, won't I be dead for sure?"
Hearing footsteps, Zhang Ruochen turned his head and looked behind him. He saw Lang Xin walking toward him.
Lang Xin stared at Zhang Ruochen, trapped and unable to move by the black tentacle, a sinister grin spreading across his face. "There's a road to heaven, but you refuse to walk it. There's no door to hell, yet you barge right in. Zhang Ruochen, go die!"
Lang Xin once again launched his flying dagger, aiming it at Zhang Ruochen's neck.
Zhang Ruochen used the power of Space Distortion to slightly alter the dagger's trajectory. The cyan flying dagger flew past Zhang Ruochen's cheek and struck the black tentacle.
With a tearing sound, the cyan dagger embedded itself three inches deep into the black tentacle.
The reason Zhang Ruochen's Snow Dragon Sword had failed to pierce the tentacle's carapace earlier was that his arms were bound, leaving him with only the strength of his five fingers.
Without enough force, there was no impact, so naturally, he couldn't break through the carapace.
The cyan flying dagger, however, carried immense force and speed, which was why it could wound the tentacle.
The monster inside the crevice, feeling the pain, let out an even more ear-splitting roar. The thick stone wall shook violently, and the crack widened further.
"Whoosh!"
A second tentacle shot out from the crevice, lashing at Lang Xin. The powerful blow sent Lang Xin flying. Fortunately, he blocked it with his arms, which were protected by sixth-rank True Martial Treasure-grade arm guards, absorbing most of the force.
Otherwise, that single strike would have severely injured him.
"What kind of monster is this?" Lang Xin stared at the widening crack in the stone wall, his arms bleeding profusely.
His current strength was even greater than that of an Earth Extreme Realm middle stage expert, yet he had been sent flying by a single tentacle. This showed just how powerful the creature growing inside the stone wall was.
Lang Xin hesitated only briefly before a third tentacle shot out from the crevice, wrapping around his body and dragging him toward the crack.
Lang Xin channeled his true qi into the arm guards on his arms, activating the fire-type inscriptions within them.
His arms burst into flames, and the surface of the arm guards emitted streaks of crimson light, forcing the tentacle to loosen its grip slightly.
"Smack!"
The second tentacle lashed out again, striking Lang Xin's head. His face was torn and bloody, his cheekbone caved in, blood streaming from his mouth as teeth were knocked out one by one.
The second tentacle struck once more, directly splitting Lang Xin's skull open, turning it into a bloody mess.
Lang Xin, who had been struggling moments before, suddenly went still. Even the light on his arm guards faded, becoming dim and lifeless.
Seeing Lang Xin's gruesome end, Zhang Ruochen drew in a sharp breath of cold air. If he didn't find a way to escape, his fate would surely be worse than Lang Xin's.
Two tentacles dragged Lang Xin's corpse into the crevice.
Then, from within the crack came the sound of "smacking" and chewing.
A moment ago, he had been an Earth Extreme Realm martial arts expert, and in an instant, he had become a monster's meal.
Cold sweat broke out on Zhang Ruochen's forehead. Lang Xin was already dead. Was he going to become the monster's food too?
"I've got it!" Zhang Ruochen suddenly thought of a way.
He channeled his true qi into the Time-Space Crystal, opening its inner space.
"Whoosh!"
A white light flashed on the surface of the Time-Space Crystal, sucking Zhang Ruochen into the inner space.
From the outside, Zhang Ruochen's body suddenly vanished from the black tentacle's grip, disappearing without a trace, leaving only a white crystal lying on the ground.
The moment the white crystal hit the ground, Zhang Ruochen leaped out of it again, picked up the crystal, and immediately fled into the distance.
"Roar!"
The monster inside the crevice let out a furious roar, extending three tentacles simultaneously to attack Zhang Ruochen.
Having been bound by a tentacle once, Zhang Ruochen was now much more cautious. As the three tentacles shot out, he changed direction four times in quick succession, turning into four afterimages that wove through the gaps between the tentacles, dodging them all.
"Break for me!"
Zhang Ruochen leaped into the air, soaring upward. He activated the inscriptions within the Snow Dragon Sword, swung both arms, and slashed downward.
"Thud!"
A two-meter-long black tentacle was severed by Zhang Ruochen, falling to the ground.
Enraged by Zhang Ruochen, the monster retracted its three tentacles into the crevice and let out a deafening howl.
"Rumble!"
From within the crack came violent crashing sounds, as the stone wall was battered, forming a web of fine cracks.
"Damn it! The wall is about to break. That monster is going to get out!" Just as Zhang Ruochen turned to flee, he suddenly spotted a torn beast-hide map on the ground.
The fragment had fallen from Lang Xin's body.
Zhang Ruochen picked up the map and immediately rushed down the stone staircase, fleeing along the lava river into the distance.
"Boom!"
The eighty-meter-high stone wall collapsed with a sound like mountains crumbling and the earth splitting.
A massive black monster burst out from the stone wall, chasing after the fleeing Zhang Ruochen.
The black monster stood over thirty meters tall, its entire body covered in thick carapace. It had eight tentacles, each over fifty meters long, and it crawled across the ground at an astonishing speed.
"It must be a barbarian beast born from the depths of the earth. At least a third-rank mid-level barbarian beast, possibly even third-rank high-level."
Based on Zhang Ruochen's judgment, the black monster's combat power was at least at the Earth Extreme Realm late stage, or even stronger.
"Wind Wings."
Zhang Ruochen channeled his true qi into the Wind Wings. The two iron wings, originally only the size of a palm, transformed under the qi's influence into countless fine metal threads. They flowed along Zhang Ruochen's arms and gathered on his back, forming two radiant wings.
With his true qi in motion, Zhang Ruochen shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring, covering a hundred meters per second.
The black monster's speed was no slower than Zhang Ruochen's. It pursued him relentlessly, occasionally roaring and spewing green poisonous mist from its mouth.
He didn't know how far he had fled when the path ahead was blocked by two massive stone doors.
At the top of the stone doors were four large characters carved into the stone: "Rock River Purgatory."
The characters were weathered and faded, as if they had been there for hundreds of years.
"There's no way out!" Zhang Ruochen's expression changed.
To the left of the stone doors was a crimson lava river, and to the right was a stone wall as hard as iron.
Zhang Ruochen stopped at the base of the stone doors, thinking to himself, "Could this be the prison where the Black Market criminals are held?"
He also considered whether he should release the criminals inside to hold off the pursuing black monster.
Unfortunately, both stone doors were inscribed with sealing formations. Zhang Ruochen had no idea how to break the seal, so he couldn't open the doors.
"Roar!"
The black monster caught up. Seeing Zhang Ruochen trapped outside the stone doors, it let out an excited cry, moving even faster until it was right in front of him. In its eyes, Zhang Ruochen was now nothing more than prey to be slaughtered.
...
I have matters to attend to today, so I owe a chapter!