# 1396
Chapter 1397: Black Crocodile Invasion
Under the starry sky, dark tides rolled at the edge of the Island. Amid the sound of waves, a massive shadow emerged from the water.
From its general outline, it resembled a giant black crocodile, but its head had no facial features—only a grotesque mouth that split open all the way to its neck. Its tail bizarrely split into two, like tentacles waving in the air, and at the end of each tentacle grew a eerie green eye, emitting a faint green glow in the darkness.
Its size rivaled that of a medium-sized cruise ship, yet its speed was extraordinarily fast. It crawled out of the waves, its body shadowing into the ground, leaving only the two tentacled eyes at its tail on the surface, like a submarine's periscope extending above sea level, racing swiftly across the land.
From the aura emanating from them, they were all Divine Beast level.
Under the dim starlight, three black crocodiles landed on the Island from three different directions, vanishing instantly into the sand.
One of the black crocodiles flew swiftly through the dim forest. Since its true form had turned into shadow and entered the earth, the complex terrain posed no obstacle to its massive body. Within the floating pair of emerald green eyes on the ground, a look of excitement appeared.
Decades ago, their race had been instructed by that great one to infiltrate the Great Xia territory. Relying on their extremely strong concealment abilities, they had lurked at the bottom of Great Xia's seas for an extended period. Now that Great Xia's borders were sealed by Great Xia's gods and the War Barrier, but these creatures that had long lurked in the deep sea had not been discovered.
After decades of lurking, their race had finally received that great one's command. As long as they completed this mission, they would have the opportunity to severely wound Great Xia and return to their homeland!
And this Island that supposedly guarded Great Xia's national fortune was their target this time.
So far, their operations had proceeded very smoothly. For absolute insurance, they had taken three hours to travel from the waters over a hundred miles away to this Island. Only by doing so could they perfectly conceal their forms and auras. Now they had successfully landed on the island via three separate routes, and no one had noticed.
It seemed that this island guarding Great Xia's national fortune did not have defenses as tight as they had imagined.
Just as the black crocodile was secretly rejoicing, a figure walked toward it from the other end of the deep forest. Its heart lurched, and it immediately concealed its aura to the extreme, inching toward the person.
Could they have been discovered?
Through the hazy starlight, it saw the figure's appearance clearly.
It remembered this human. During these past few days of observation, this face had been constantly appearing before it. The black crocodile hid in some grass, its two emerald green eyes pressed against the ground, observing secretly.
The person stood in the forest, looking around, appearing somewhat guilty.
"This should be far enough that no one can hear..." he muttered to himself.
He cleared his throat and began warming up his voice.
The black crocodile lurking in the shadows felt confusion arise in its heart.
Then, an eerie song drifted悠悠回deng through the darkness.
"Big windmill goes round and round~~ The scenery here is really beautiful~ Sky's beautiful~ Earth's beautiful..."
The moment it heard this song, the black crocodile's eyes pressed against the ground suddenly went vacant. A mysterious power invaded its body, causing its form to tremble slightly in the darkness!
"Who?!"
Lin Qiye, who had been mid-song, snapped to attention immediately, summoning Ame-no-Murakumo and slashing toward the direction of the strange sound.
The black crocodile was after all from a Divine Beast race. Though caught off guard by the sudden effects of [Soul Domination Melody], it quickly forced itself to break free. But at this moment, Ame-no-Murakumo had already flashed before it!
The black crocodile's form shadowed again, dodging sideways like lightning. Even so, the sharp blade still sliced off a segment of its tail tentacle, along with the emerald green eye at its tip, sent flying into the air!
A miserable howl erupted from the black crocodile's gaping maw!
Someone's really here?!
Lin Qiye watched the emerald green eye get sliced off and land on the ground, his heart sinking!
Ever since that time when Baili Pangpang heard him practicing singing in his room late at night, Lin Qiye had changed his strategy—waiting until everyone was deep asleep before sneakily retreating to the nearby forest to practice. He had been doing this for several days... But he never imagined that the moment he opened his mouth today, it would draw out a monster.
Before starting his practice, Lin Qiye had surveyed the area with his spiritual sense and found no living creatures nearby. This sudden turn of events truly startled him.
Li Kengqiang had long said there were no other creatures on this island. Now a mysterious monster with eerie eyes had suddenly appeared. Lin Qiye's first thought was that someone was trying to ambush this Island!
Lin Qiye gripped Ame-no-Murakumo in one hand while summoning [White Slash] with the other. He took a deep breath and shouted toward the sky:
"Enemy attack!!!"
The ringing cry echoed across every corner of the Island. Almost the instant the sound pierced the heavens, two rumbling explosions came from the other two sides of the island.
When the black crocodile saw Lin Qiye immediately expose their presence, a bad premonition rose in its heart. Instinctively, it wanted to strike and kill this young human who hadn't even reached Human Apex level. But remembering Yuehuai's instructions before departure, it immediately turned into shadow and entered the earth, racing at full speed toward the island's depths!
Lin Qiye, who had already prepared himself for a desperate battle, was slightly stunned to see the monster turn and flee.
The next moment, he reacted. His form turned into a streak of night and gave chase!
These monsters' target wasn't them... it was the Island itself!
"Stop!" Lin Qiye growled, his form flashing above the black crocodile's shadow. [White Slash] stabbed fiercely into the black crocodile's back, the blade catching like it had struck rock, carrying Lin Qiye's body swiftly through the deep forest.
So even when the black crocodile shadowed into the earth, it still had a physical presence... Lin Qiye thought to himself.
Lin Qiye gripped Ame-no-Murakumo and stabbed toward the black crocodile's neck like lightning. This time the black crocodile knew better. It twisted its body, dragging Lin Qiye with it as it crashed headfirst into a hard cliff face beside them!
The black crocodile shadowing into darkness could ignore terrain and pass directly through from the mountain's base. But Lin Qiye, being a three-dimensional being, couldn't bypass this cliff.
Lin Qiye's eyes narrowed. He was forced to release his grip on Ame-no-Murakumo. The [White Slash] blade flickered with a faint glow, and his form instantly entered nothingness, passing through the mountain!
The two figures crossed the mountain one after another, but the black crocodile was clearly faster. It shook off Lin Qiye and pressed directly toward the Island's deepest depths.
At that moment, a figure descended from the sky!
An Qingyu, carrying the black coffin on her back, landed precisely on the black crocodile's path. She slapped both hands against the ground, and cold ice instantly froze the surface. A thick wall of ice and snow rose from the earth!