Chapter 2012

Oh, this is the source of the blood qi! This stone forest is filled with this smell everywhere!

He Lingchuan said solemnly: "Don't you think the fracture patterns on these stone slabs resemble muscles and blood vessels?"

Everyone exchanged glances, all feeling a faint chill in their hearts.

What on earth is this place? The stone forest actually eats people, especially those who are isolated and on the outskirts.

After a quick count, good heavens, in just a short while, over twenty people have vanished without a sound.

He Lingchuan immediately ordered: "Form teams of four, move forward with front and rear covering each other, pay close attention to the stone slabs nearby. Also, switch out short weapons and take out spears and polearms!"

Luo Xie whispered: "My lord, the companions who were captured earlier..."

"These stone slabs keep shifting positions; you can't find them." He Lingchuan, however, seemed completely confident: "Only by breaking the divine technique itself can we rescue them!"

"Divine technique!" Luo Xie was moved.

Are there still gods nearby?

The group continued forward.

Soon, shouts came from the rear, as if there was still the sound of combat.

The black-armored army suddenly turned around, only to see four warriors rushing over, pointing at the stone slabs and saying: "Two monsters jumped out from inside, trying to drag us in!"

Earlier, our companions were caught this way. But now they are in groups of four, mentally prepared, and immediately noticed the abnormality.

He Lingchuan asked: "What do these monsters look like?"

"They walk upright, somewhat like humans, hairless all over. One has a toothy mouth and three eyes, the other has four claws." The eyewitness summarized: "Ugly and bizarre."

"The monster with a third eye on its forehead—I was swept by its gaze, and my mind went blank. If it weren't for A Yi saving me, I would have been dragged away too." This is the account of someone who just survived a terrifying ordeal.

No wonder the black-armored soldiers were silently captured. "Where are the monsters?"

"We stabbed them with our spears, and they jumped into the stone slabs and vanished."

He Lingchuan pondered, murmuring: "Even in a non-sealed environment, can this really happen?"

The crowd didn't hear clearly: "What did you say?"

He Lingchuan waved his hand and asked the blood demon: "Can you find the source of the blood qi?"

This entity formed by the aggregation of blood fiends should know the source and flow of blood qi better than anyone.

"Let me try." The blood demon said: "First, get me a monster—alive."

"Alright."

He Lingchuan put away his long weapon and walked specifically along the edges of the stone slabs.

He was bold due to his skill, daring to risk himself. But those monsters seemed to understand gratitude and grudges, and simply did not come out to grab him.

After walking another seven or eight zhang, Luo Xie suddenly exclaimed: "We seem to have walked back to where we started. I made a mark on this stone slab earlier."

"The terrain is secretly changing, and someone is secretly watching us." He Lingchuan saw nothing strange: "Just treat this stone forest as a formation. Without breaking the formation's eye, we cannot leave."

As his words fell, the stone slab beside them suddenly sprang out two humanoid monsters, each only half a person tall, with large heads and small bodies, faces bearing only a single eye or a huge mouth stretching past the ears, filled with sharp teeth.

One of these monsters stabbed at his eyes, the other grabbed his neck.

No way, the Nine Abysses Great Emperor is fully encased in battle armor, with only these two spots exposed.

The frontal monster hadn't even lunged when a blade aura flashed past, severing its head from its body; as for the one lunging from behind, it was wrapped in the blood cloak, let out two squeaks, and then fell still.

From within the cloak came a sound like chewing or like bubbles popping, but upon close listening, there was nothing.

Not only He Lingchuan, but the warriors near the stone slabs all received the same treatment. Earlier, it was still a quiet stone forest; suddenly, hundreds upon thousands of monsters leapt out!

These monsters are largely similar in appearance, with skin and bones abnormally tough, requiring great effort with ordinary blades to even cut them.

If viewed from above, He Lingchuan and his companions look like they've stirred a hornet's nest—monsters swarm densely, fearlessly throwing themselves at them.

Since their sneaky strategy of capturing people has been exposed, they simply dropped the act and poured out in full force.

Although they have sharp teeth and claws, the warriors have armor protection, so honestly it's not too hard to fight them. But the problem is, the monsters rushing out from the stone slabs seem endless—kill one, and two more take its place.

In just a dozen breaths, nearly every warrior is facing at least a 1v4 situation.

This has become quite chaotic, so everyone huddled together back-to-back, and began chopping down the stone slabs among the crowd.

Suddenly a warrior shouted: "Monster corpses get absorbed by the ground!"

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Everyone looked closely, and sure enough! The monsters they painstakingly killed lay on the ground, like fallen into a swamp, sinking at a visible speed.

The ground beneath their feet will consume the monsters' corpses.

Recycling waste?

"After being eaten, they are reassembled into monsters." He Lingchuan said: "The ground, the stone forest, and these monsters are all one entity. Attack their eyes—it takes less effort!"

Their desperate situation, where they cannot fly away, is for these monsters just a free passage—they can come and go at will.

Hearing this, everyone felt a chill in their hearts. Human strength is ultimately limited; if the monsters are endless, won't we eventually be exhausted to death?

As they spoke, another two or three people were dragged into the stone slabs, rescue too late.

It seems the Heavy Armor General plans to wait until they are utterly exhausted before coming out to claim an easy prize.

He Lingchuan whispered: "So many leaping about, and you still won't act?"

"Sorry sorry, I was too immersed." This surging blood qi, the blood demon gave a dry laugh, quickly inhaled another breath, and turned into a wisp of red mist.

He Lingchuan stabbed the lunging monster through with one sword, then kicked it away with his leg. This creature, severely wounded, turned and fled back into the stone slabs.

Yes, after being wounded, they can return to the stone slabs to heal, and when they reappear, they are unharmed.

But that wisp of red mist had already entered its wound first, and then disappeared together with it into the stone slabs.

This is the blood demon's avatar.

Using the感应 between the main body and the avatar, it can smoothly invade "the stone forest" as a vast entity—from surface to underground, from individual monsters to the whole, from stone slabs to the stone forest.

"Oh ho, oh ho! This place is so interesting!" He Lingchuan usually cannot see the blood demon's face, but can sense its astonishment from its tone: "All this blood qi flows in a specific direction, like the internal circulation of a tree."

He Lingchuan shook his head: "Isn't it more like human blood circulation?"

"Yo, you're right!" the blood demon exclaimed in surprise, "You already knew what this thing was?"

It had lived for over two thousand years and had never seen anything like this—how did He Lingchuan, so young, know about it?

"By coincidence, I roughly know." He Lingchuan sliced a monster in half with one stroke, "Have you found it?"

"What is the target you're looking for?" The client's request was too vague, the blood demon wanted to narrow the search range, "Be specific—I can only find it then."